I have a really hard time letting go of things I buy when I'm hypo. I figure I bought them, now I have to use them or else it's really wasteful (which is about the worst thing in the world, right next to letting down someone else's expectations :-P). Anyway one of the things I had in droves was skeins of yarn - all kinds, different weights and colors. The feel, textures, and colors really appeal to me, as well as the possibilities of what they might become. But then I lose steam, and end up with a trunk full of unused yarn. Which I can't let go of. Because that would be wasteful.

My T asked me about it once. She described the yarn I had sitting out as a literal ball of guilt. I kept it out so I would see it and remember that I was supposed to do something useful with it. But I never did anything with it, so I just ended up feeling guilty about that perpetually. I finally just said, F it, and I donated it all to Goodwill. Ever since then, I have been able to let go of the guilt a lot more - I realized I didn't have to hold on to it if it wasn't serving me any longer. I could decide not to feel guilty about it, and just to acknowledge that it was something I had done, but not something that I was doing any longer. That approach worked with a lot of my spring cleaning...I was able to let go of a lot of stuff that I had held onto purely as a source of guilt. There's still more, but baby steps...