When I was a teenager my mom introduced me to the concept of a hope chest. 

I'm sure you might have heard of the beautiful tradition.  It's a cedar chest or in my case a big plastic tote bin from Walmart where you collect linens, dishes, and keepsakes for a future life, a future home, a future baby, or a future partner.

Then what happens is we fill these boxes, and we store them in our homes.  Sometimes for decades.  When we move somewhere new, we lug them with us just waiting on the day to finally unpack, feel finally at home, settle in and enjoy our life without trying to get somewhere else.

For me, my mom started buying me things to put into my hope chest for Christmas as a teenager, and for many years I took on that concept as a really cool thing to do. 

Sometimes even when I was out shopping, I'd see a good "deal" and then buy things in advance, only cluttering up my home with even more with stuff.  

Looking back I can see how beautiful the concept really was. 

I mean, who doesn't love a good "deal" and how cool is it to open up a set of casserole dishes on Christmas morning as a young teenager when you absolutely hate cooking and all you really wanted was a new Adidas sweatshirt, some new shoes and a vacation?

But a hope chest sounds deeply proactive, practical, wise, and loving doesn't it?

It feels like a physical act of faith, a sacred preparation for the beautiful milestones ahead and a good way to save money.

Wrong.  Yup.  So Wrong. 

For me, there sat a little storage room full of tote bins, and there I sat looking at a constant reminder of all the things I didn't have yet...  Just waiting for my life to begin.

So today I want to talk to you about the hidden energetic weight of these boxes and the hidden weight of perhaps a storage room that's filled with tote bins of stuff just "waiting" for you to use them "some day." 

Because the truth is, we could close the door to a storage room that's full of stuff or put things in a tote bin, but in the back of your mind, you know it's there, and that actually affects your health, your relationships and your energy greatly. 

While a hope chest is built with the highest of intentions, it can become an anchor of stress that traps your spirit in a state of constant, agonizing waiting, moving, rearranging and longing for something other than what you have right now.

When we hoard physical items for a future that hasn’t arrived, we are actually leaking our personal power. That's because we are pulling vital life-force energy away from the only moment that actually holds the spark of creation: the present moment.

Releasing this physical and spiritual weight is one of the most freeing and empowering life choices you can make for your soul, and not to mention your sanity. 

So let’s dive deeper into how that "someday" box might be quietly draining your power, stealing your energy, causing you more exhaustion and how letting go can open the floodgates to your true, highest desires.

1. It Traps You in "Waiting" Energy (The Loop of Longing)

Manifestation does not happen in the future; it happens right here, right now. The Universe/God/Source does not respond to what you want; it responds to the frequency you are emitting in this exact moment.

When you pack items away into a chest, carefully layering them with tissue paper for "one day," your subconscious registers a loud, underlying message: I don't have it yet. My real life hasn't started. This creates an energetic loop of longing, striving, desiring, and working. You inadvertently become a person whose primary identity is waiting for life to begin. The longer you wait, the more the universe reflects back circumstances that keep you waiting.

2. It Anchors You to an Outdated Timeline

Think about the items sitting in your basement or a hope chest right now. When did you buy them? Two years ago? Five? Ten?  I know for myself I had some items for over 10 years, and when I moved into my very first home and got pregnant with my first child, the items I had stored in my hope chest were no longer a reflection of who I was or what I actually wanted.  So there I was just using what I had, meanwhile the items were outdated.  And sure, the items served a purpose, but they weren't what I would have personally after my dream came true, and they actually brought me back to a time in my past.  

You are a divine, fluid, evolving spiritual being. Your tastes, your boundaries, your values, and your soul’s core vibration change constantly as you learn and grow. Keeping items from years ago forces your energy field to cling to old timelines. It ties your future to an old aesthetic or a past dream that your soul may have completely outgrown. You deserve a future that matches who you are now, not a time-capsule version of who you used to be or who you were while you're "waiting" for things to happen.

3. It Signals Scarcity and Stagnation to the Universe

Collecting things slowly over years because you’re afraid you won’t have the resources, the time, or the options later is a subtle symptom of a scarcity mindset. It is a whisper to the Universe that says, "I better grab this now, because abundance might not be there for me later."

Furthermore, physical clutter creates spiritual stagnation and drains the energy in your home. In the spirit realm, energy must flow like a river. When your home and your energetic field are crowded with items meant for a hypothetical future, you leave no empty space for magic. Nature absolutely abhors a vacuum; when you clear physical space, you create a magnetic pull that forces fresh, unexpected blessings to rush in.

4. It Tries to Micro-Manage God

When we fill a chest with specific items, we tend to focus entirely on the how and the what, rather than the feeling of our desires. We try to control and dictate the exact material outcome and usually it's our Ego that's involved.  We have thoughts, desires, and wants, and those might be great, but they might not be what God had in mind for you and your future. 

By deciding exactly what your future home, family or relationship looks like down to the specific dinner plates or silver spoons, you block the Universe from bringing you something better.  There is an element of surprise involved and humans have a tendency to not think as big or as abundantly as God.  True manifestation requires absolute surrender. It requires trusting that God/The Universe/Source (all the same thing) has a blueprint for you that is wider, richer, and more beautiful than anything you could ever fit inside a wooden box or plastic tote bin.

The Liberation of the Ultimate "Now"

When you choose to release the weight of the hope chest and all it's belongings, an incredible, palpable shift happens in your body. You instantly reclaim the scattered fragments of your energy from those hypothetical futures and pull them straight back into your solar plexus.

You start romanticizing the life you are actually standing in today.

You realize that you don't need a milestone, a ring, a baby blanket, a tote bin full of clothes or dishes, or a specific title to validate your right to luxury, joy, and peace right now.

•  Pop the cork: Drink the expensive wine you've been saving for a "special occasion" on a random, rainy Thursday.
•  Set the stage: Use the beautiful crystal glasses for your morning iced coffee or dinner today.
•  Light the fire: Burn the luxury candles while you do the dishes.
•  Claim your comfort: Buy the expensive pyjamas and sleep on the high-thread-count sheets tonight, just for yourself.

Stop saving your joy for a future version of you who has finally been "approved" by circumstance.

When you live fully, loudly, and unapologetically in the present moment, you send a loud, magnetic signal to the Universe: I am abundant, I am ready, I am whole, and my life is incredible right now, and ironically, that exact frequency of radical contentment is the absolute shortcut to manifesting miracles.

So, take a deep, grounding breath. Look at what you are holding onto out of fear, anticipation, or habit.

Can you let something go?

Can you hand over the details the the Universe?

Can you release the weight, unpack the box, give away what no longer fits, make room for what you're calling into your life, leave some room for surprises and choose to step into your glorious, empowering, life right now?

Now, I won't say that this work of letting things go is actually easy.

No, it's actually a complete mind fuck and absolutely exhausting at times.  It's a process, and the process might take a year or 10 years.. Heck it might even take 20 or 40 years to install a new belief system and change the way you do things depending on how long your mind has been conditioned.

Letting go of things from your past... 

Letting go of things other people gave you or bought you... 

Letting go of your hopes, dreams and desires and trusting that God knows best and that God's timing is always perfect, and I mean always perfect...

That requires faith, strength, healing, growth, trust, surrender and belief. 

Allow yourself to feel what you need to feel.  Allow tears to flow if they arise, and allow the magic of your own life force to guide you to what is the right and best decision for you.

Your heart always knows.  Have the courage to listen and let it lead the way.

Are you ready to stop waiting and start creating?

If you feel like your energy is stuck in the past join my 7 Day Manifesting Challenge today by visiting here.

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