I empathize with the difficulty of giving up things you've lived with for years.
When we went overseas, we were obliged to downsize for 3 years to a very nice flat. Three-quarters of our belongings went into storage. Instead of finding this liberating, we missed our former space, belongings, art, books, furniture, and yard.
We are selective about what we acquire, and rarely get rid of anything. Once age erodes our health, we know we won't be able to take care of everything we own, and D R E A D the inevitable downsizing. These objects and rooms bring us joy. If we had kids, we would give them our things so we could at least come and "visit" our stuff now and then.