The things that stay with us aren’t usually the expensive ones. Instead, it’s the chipped mug we keep reaching for even with nicer ones in the cupboard, the scarf tucked in a drawer for a decade but never donated, the recipe card written in someone’s hand, the makeshift bookmark, or the box of old keys whose locks we’ve long forgotten but still can’t throw away.

A certain intimacy exists in the things we keep. They don’t always make sense to anyone else and maybe they don’t need to. They’re not about style or status or practicality; they’re about memory, about story, about a feeling we weren’t ready to forget.

Sometimes, we hold on to things because they anchor us to a version of ourselves that we don’t want to lose. Other times, it’s about someone else—a moment, a season, or a chapter we closed gently but not entirely.

As the end of the year inches closer and everything around us leans into the themes of clearing out and starting fresh, maybe this is your permission to keep a few things without explanation. Not everything has to be useful. Some things are just allowed to be loved.

Whether it’s a drawer full of mystery items or a sweater that’s three sizes too big, if it still makes you feel something, then maybe that’s enough.