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Cherish Memories, Not Things

What I learned from being poor

Natalie Jeanne Maddy
7 min readJun 13, 2020

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“Songs and smells will bring you back to a moment in time more than anything else. It’s amazing how much can be conjured with a few notes of a song or a solitary whiff of a room. A song you didn’t even pay attention to at the time, a place that you didn’t even know had a particular smell.”
Emily Giffin

A song you didn’t even pay attention to at the time,

a place that you didn’t even know had a particular smell.

I used to be poor — not in money but in relationships, goals, ambitions, values. I was poor in thought and esteem and worth. I was poor until I stumbled upon the cheap price of a smile, of happiness, of laughter, of joy.

I used to have a lot of money, spending it freely on whatever, wherever, with whomever, however I saw fit. But on the inside, I was dying a little bit more every time I had to make more room in my closet for that little dress I just bought. That little dress that might only ever see the light of day once. That little dress that only ever would be worn with the shoes that also might only ever see the light of day once. The same little dress that still conjures up memories of the one time I wore it:

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Natalie Jeanne Maddy
Natalie Jeanne Maddy

Written by Natalie Jeanne Maddy

I try to rouse others to find their truths by writing about my own!💋Yoga, meditation, and aromatherapy teacher. Author of 5 books — thriller, healing, poetry.

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