It's Never Really About the Piggy Banks

I have two of the ugliest ceramic piggy banks you've ever seen.

(Please don't tell my husband or my sister-in-law—I know they gave them to me with love!)

One was a gift from my husband before we were even married. The other was given to me by his sister before she moved overseas many years ago. For more than thirty years, they've travelled with us from home to home, always carefully wrapped and always finding a place on a shelf.

Every now and then, usually while I'm decluttering, I pick them up and think, "Surely it's time to let these go."

And every single time...

I put them straight back.

Not because I particularly love the piggy banks.

But because of what they represent.

Somewhere over the years, those little ceramic pigs became symbols of love, family, memories and the life my husband and I have built together. Without even realising it, I'd attached a story to them.

"If I let these go, I'll lose a piece of those memories."

It wasn't a conscious thought.

It was simply the narrative I'd come to believe.

Then, one day, I caught myself.

Was that story actually true?

Would donating these piggy banks really erase thirty-one years of love, laughter and memories?

Of course not.

The memories don't live inside the piggy banks.

The love isn't sitting on a shelf.

Those things already live within me.

And that simple shift in perspective changed everything.

It made me realise that perhaps I've been asking myself the wrong question all these years.

Instead of asking,

"What if I regret letting them go?"

Perhaps I should be asking,

"What if they could bring joy to someone else?"

Maybe that's what paying it forward looks like.

Allowing something that has meant so much to me to become part of someone else's story.

Not because I'm forgetting my own story.

But because my story no longer depends on the objects that remind me of it.

As I reflected on this, I realised this is exactly what coaching has done for me.

People often think coaching is about fixing problems, setting goals or finding answers.

Sometimes it is.

But more often, it's about something much deeper.

It's about noticing the stories we've quietly been telling ourselves.

The beliefs we've accepted as truth.

The assumptions we've never thought to question.

Coaching doesn't rewrite our past.

It helps us rewrite the narrative we've created around it.

The circumstances may not change.

The memories remain.

The experiences are still ours.

But when we change the way we see them, everything else begins to change too.

That's what it means to rewire our minds.

Not pretending difficult things never happened.

Not denying the past.

But choosing a perspective that allows us to move forward rather than remain stuck.

Perhaps that's true for all of us.

Maybe we're not holding onto old possessions.

Maybe we're holding onto old stories.

Stories that tell us we're not enough.

That we have to keep proving ourselves.

That letting go means losing.

That change is something to fear.

But what if those stories are no longer true?

What if all they need is a gentle reframe?

As for the piggy banks…

They may stay on my shelf for a little while longer.

Or perhaps one day they'll find a new home and become part of someone else's memories.

Either way, they've already given me something far more valuable than I ever expected.

They reminded me that love doesn't live inside possessions.

It lives within us.

And sometimes, the greatest transformation begins not by changing our circumstances...

But by changing the story we've been telling ourselves all along.

What story in your life might be ready for a new ending?

Nicky du Preez | Inner Reset Collective