A Tale of One T-Shirt...

I have this t-shirt that I keep hanging on to. I guess it's my "skinny" t-shirt. While I got rid of my "skinny" jeans years ago (admitting that, since they were a size I hadn't worn since early high school days, it was time to let them go), this particular t-shirt has lurked in my closet for about five or six years. After all, it was size or two larger than my "skinny" jeans so, surely it was more realistic to hope to wear it again, right?

Every summer I take it out and I look at it. I hold it up to myself in the mirror to assess how much longer I have to go until I get my weight "right" enough to wear it. Today, I hung it up on a door frame and tugged at the sides of it to see if it would stretch at all. Not suprisingly, it didn't yield very much. It would have to stretch a whole lot for me to wear it anytime soon.

How many summers have I done this? At least a half dozen. I always fold it up and put it back into my under-the-bed box where all the summer clothes reside that actually do fit until the next summer.

It's going to Goodwill now. I just can't do it again. You see, I realize now that holding on to this t-shirt was doing me more harm than good. Every single time I put it away in that box, I think, "There's another summer gone by when I didn't meet my ultimate goal." It's disheartening. Discouraging. Depressing. And I just don't need that.

I may never wear that size again and until today, I held out hope that it would be. Somehow, by giving it away, I feel like -- finally -- it's okay if I don't. What a sense of relief. I feel better about myself, and oddly enough, no less dedicated to my continuing weight loss.... maybe even more so.

Do you have the sudden urge to purge your closet, too? I highly recommend it.