Some of our clutter used to not be clutter. At one point it was a part of our lives. We enjoyed it. It served us.
But things change and it lost its importance. It became clutter.
It can be hard to let these things go because we remember that it once made us happy. We like being happy. We're programmed to seek out happiness. But our attachment to memories of what made us happy, and physical holding on to the actual thing, causes us pain.
I remember when I was a teenager and learned Transcendental Meditation. I loved meditating. It brought me great peace of mind. I even went to a college where the students and faculty practiced TM. But after I graduated, I stopped enjoying this meditation. I kept meditating though because a part of me didn't want to notice my change of heart. After a few months of slogging through my meditations, it became too painful and I had to let it go. I felt a tremendous relief.
It's okay to let go of something that once took care of us. We honor ourselves and the thing (job, person, activities, lifestyle, residence, way of seeing things) by letting go of what doesn't fit us emotionally and physically anymore. It gives us the space to enjoy something that fits us now.