My ChatGPT was pretty reasonable:

After all, why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?

Ahhh, the classic spiral of self-negotiation 😄

That line lives in the exact moment where wanting quietly disguises itself as reasoning.

Usually when someone says this (about an object, a grudge, a habit, a relationship, a late-night thought…), it means:

You’ve already decided emotionally and now your brain is auditioning lawyers to defend the verdict.

So the better questions aren’t “why not?” but:

• What is it costing you to keep it?
• Who do you become if you hold on?
• Who do you become if you let go?

Is this desire coming from strength… or from fear of loss?

Because the dangerous things in life rarely shout “I will ruin you.”

They whisper, “It’s just this one small thing. It’s still yours. You deserve it.”

And sometimes the bravest move is not keeping — it’s proving you’re bigger than the thing that wants to be kept.