From the Inbox: These are select letters I’ve sent to my email list — shared here as a slow-growing archive of thoughts, seasons, and transitions. If you would like to receive all future letters, join here.

Hello friend,

I'm writing from Portland – where I am 4 days out from hopping on a plane back to Boston. The last week and a half has been FULL to the max, mostly with packing / unpacking / selling / donating / repacking.

It started with me driving a Uhaul van for the second time in my life. Thank God for my friend Christina because not only did she majorly help me load up storage before I left, but with two children in tow she also helped me unload my storage unit, pack the Uhaul, bring it back to her house, unpack the Uhaul and load her garage. She's been a saving grace in this big whole journey and I'm so deeply grateful for every way she's cared for me during this time. Also including letting me stay with her and her family, cooking me the most delicious meals, helping me set up a yard sale two days in a row – including hanging up all the signs for it, and did I mention cooking for me? If I have a love language for how I like to receive, friends who nourish me falls way at the top of the list.

In all of this I found myself pulling out boxes from the garage for hours a day, going through every little thing I packed away. It's a lot. You might not think it is (I certainly didn't think it'd be so much lol) – but having to touch every card you've saved, every little trinket, every little gift you've received, or item you've collected for yourself, the hobbies you've pursued – and then neglected – and those you were still actively tapping into when you left, it's all so very much.

As it goes, I kept putting things aside for Rhode Island and my next life when I return from France. When I stacked it all into boxes – it was a lot. After days and days of going through boxes and getting set up for the yard sale, I found myself going back to my box of items and reconciling what really needs to stay. I'd dwindle the boxes down by tossing it in the for sale pile “if this doesn't sell, then I need to keep it!” and so I marked things – like my favorite pelican ceramic planter for $15 with the hopes that the price tag would turn someone off. And of course it sold, and I cried a little bit… so it goes.

And this went on and on. At the end of two days of yard sales I packed up all those little items and tossed them in boxes and we drove them straight to Goodwill. Now all that's left is my ‘keep’ boxes, which I've since had to dwindle down even further.

Thing is, I don't actually want half this stuff. But I keep it because there's an emotional attachment there, or I feel bad getting rid of something that someone made me or gifted me. My friend Kaylyn was incredibly supportive with this. She sat with me as I sorted through boxes and boxes and she essentially reminded me that gifts should not be burdens to carry. That I can release these things guilt free without feeling like I've somehow let someone down.

And it's hard but I've been doing it, slowly but surely.

At one point Christina laughed, “Sheri's in her ‘just take it!’ phase now!” because that's what I do when I get tired and I don't want to deal with every little thingamabob anymore. If someone shows interest, I tell them, “Here! You take it!” which is funny because I had a memory come to me that this is what my grandmother did too.

The only difference is she was a hoarder of all the things because “just in case you need it one day” with boxes stacked on boxes of things she bought over the years that she'll never have seen again because they got buried under the weight of new boxes and things.

While I don't have nearly as much stuff as she did, it still has felt like a bit too much.

So as the days have passed, I've found myself more willing to release things I've been holding onto back into the world. There's a freedom here. As I sorted and shifted through it all, I started to feel really good about doing so. Which is funny because I was convinced it'd make me feel bad or sad or whatever other weird emotion, but nope. I felt the opposite.

I even ended up parting ways with some of my favorite art pieces that never sold. That was probably the hardest part – knowing how much time and labor and cost I spent making the pieces and now they're just sitting inside an industrial sized black trash bag.

But it all feels so right in some way.

I don't know where my next journey takes me. But I do know I don't want to have boxes and things sitting in storage just waiting for me. Tethering me to an old life I no longer have. No, I'm ready to step into this new era of my life.

Does this mean I'll never create again? Of course not. Have you met me?!?!? I couldn't stay away from creating no matter how hard I tried. This is in my soul, but now I get to do it from a place free of pressure to create based on my old self.

And this feels good.

BTW – If you're curious about my Portland trip home in more detail (what we did, ate, new places I discovered that I'm obsessed with, etc – then check out this blog post!) Be prepared to see more blog posts and vlogs?!?! pop up in the future. I'm starting to feel like this is the space I will create with going forward!

PS - To all my Portland friends that I've been able to reconnect with these past few weeks, I'm so grateful for you! Thank you for giving me a place to come to that feels so much like home even when all my stuff is gone lol. Eternally grateful for you.

This email was sent to subscribers on May 28, 2025.

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Leave it all behind – and there is happiness