I have a confession, friend.

I am a digital hoarder.

I don’t delete emails. I don’t delete photos. I don’t delete texts. I don’t delete apps. I just…don’t delete things.

To be clear, I’m not someone with 400,000 unread emails, 138 unread texts, and 20 missed calls. I open my emails and texts… I just don’t delete them afterwards.

This is something I’ve been doing for a looong time. I still have group chats that haven’t been used since 2014. Photos and memes from 2011. An entire bookmark folder of articles I want to read some day (some dating back to 2016). And the worst part — hundreds, if not thousands, of screenshots from high school fights, college breakups, and literally anything else you can take a screenshot of.

It’s one of the worst aspects of myself, this screenshot collecting, because it’s not necessarily based in wanting to save the mems. 90% of it is based in pettiness, in always making sure I have the receipts. Part of this stems back to some intense fights/drama in high school (IYKYK), where I was advised by a teacher and older friends to keep record of all the shenanigans happening. I literally have a folder of dozens of screenshots all from one friendship falling out. And another folder of screenshots from the literal essay (like legitimately 1,000+ words) I got during my first break up. And I could keep going on and on.

Is this excessive? Yes. Is it healthy? No. Is it time to let it all go. YES.

You may not relate to this at all. I know I have a few friends who delete all their texts at the end of every day. And it’s pretty embarrassing knowing that literally anyone who knew me from high school reading this will know that I still have those screenshots (we all know the ones). So…how does this relate to you?

It’s not easy to admit when you have a problem, no matter how silly or minor it may sound. But when you’re finally able to come to terms with the fact that a practice is hurting you more than helping — well, that’s a beautiful thing. Then being able to take the next step and intentionally remove that practice is HUGE for growth and self trust.

I have done some deleting over the past couple of years, but I’m ready to let it all go. I’m sick of my annual memories being clouded with evidence from some of the dumbest, most dramatic times of my life. I’ll obviously be keeping the pictures and the objectively good/important memories. But all those extras? Buh-bye.

What do you need to let go of this week?

Sending love,

Emily

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The Recipe Breakdown

Lemon: Digital hoarding (or literally anything else). If you don’t relate to the digital hoarding aspect of this recipe, try thinking about a practice or aspect of your life that doesn’t add joy. Maybe it’s not something you think about regularly, but when you do, it either brings up shitty memories or makes you feel bad in general.

Ingredient #1: Recognizing the harm. Harm may seem like a strong word here, but I want you to really think about it. For me, it was not helping my self esteem or, quite frankly, my PTSD to have certain pictures or screenshots or messages pop up from some of the worst times in my life. I held onto them for so long because I thought it would give me power to be able to prove that this person was abusive, this person is a liar, etc. But it didn’t and it doesn’t. If, when thinking about your potential lemon for this recipe, a practice came immediately to mind, that is almost certainly something to let go of. Recognizing it and acknowledging how it no longer serves you is important and a big first step.

Ingredient #2: Set intentional time to deal with it. Like I mentioned, I’ve done mini digital clean outs before, but I always stop when I realize how slow the process if going to be. I can spend a solid half hour deleting things and it’ll barely make a dent. What this project deserves is intentional time to sit down and spend the two hours or so deleting things. It is perfectly fine to take on projects when you feel most called to it, but setting aside the time to bring more joy to your life is really important, too.

Ingredient #3: Letting go. Tbh, this is deeper than just letting go of the pictures or emails or whatever. It’s also letting go whatever heightened emotions are attached. In my case, it’s letting the hurt of old friendships, frustration with my past petty actions, and intense nostalgia go. Make peace with yourself, forgive yourself, take a deep breath, and delete.

Want to talk about your own lemons, ingredients, or lemonade recipes? Feel free to reply to this email!

🍋 Lemon Zest 🍋

The Little Things that help make my days a bit brighter 💕

🎵 I recently finished listening to I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. I’m a sucker for an author reading their own memoir. This was a really tough listen due to the intense abuse and eating disorder recovery, but I definitely recommend it if you’re interested.

📝 I highlighted the C&S Designs Undated Back to Basics planner this week. I’ve been using this planner for about two months now and absolutely looooove it — also it’s only on sale for $9.17 right now. Absolute steal.

☕ Alright, there are a lot of adaptogen powders in this list, but I’m very interested in keeping up my routine of something warm in the morning without any caffeine, so open to all thoughts and suggestions!

💭 Should Netflix build its own theme park?

📧 If you liked this ☝️ article, I am once again recommending you subscribe to Morning Brew.

☕ If you’d like to support my work and Making Lemonade, consider buying me a coffee or sending a few dollars my way via Venmo: @emmyfromminny ☕