There may come a pivotal career or life turning point for you–there does for many–when you finally have the means to treat yourself to a luxury item you’ve coveted for years, but could never before afford.

It may be a watch, or a handbag, or a designer coat. You will buy it with your new money, and it will serve as a testament to your financial wellbeing. I’ve arrived. I’m here at the place where I can buy myself this thing and not have it be a thing. Even though it is, obviously.

The months will go by and then maybe the years, and you will still love that thing, and sometimes you’ll wear or use it.

And then, maybe, after a certain point, you’ll sort of stop. You’ll retire that Hermes scarf in favor of a more practical one. You’ll let the Cartier watch slip to the back of the drawer and slog around town with your inexpensive instagram-campaign-made-famous band.

But still, that item you bought when you finally could will remain for you a symbol of when it all clicked. It will be up on a pedestal, even if that pedestal’s location is buried at the bottom of your closet.

That makes sense, yeah.

Except, hold it, I’m not really sure it does.

If you acquired an expensive item when you finally were able to, and you’re still as flush now as you were that day (more so), isn’t your being able to let that thing go an even stronger testament of your abundance? After all, you don’t need to hold onto the material item that embodies wealth if you’re living a life of wealth. Right?

And on the other hand, maybe your stock plummeted the day after you bought that designer pair of lamps. In which case, isn’t the lingering presence of said lighting instruments a bittersweet reminder? Aren’t they discordant with the rest of your belongings? And really, don’t you think you ought to cash them in if it’s a matter of feeding your family?

In any case, the symbolic power we ascribe to material objects is a figment of our imaginations.

You hold your history. You are the steward of your journey.

You don’t need any thing outside you to tell you it’s true.

Pssst: know someone who you think might own an outdated, outgrown luxury item, but who hasn’t yet let it go? Send this post their way! (Thanks in advance–from both of us.)

Image credit: Elizabeth Messina via My Sweet And Saucy