Throwing Things Away
We all have that one closet, bookshelf, or drawer full of junk that we haven't seen for possibly a year or longer. And every single day you walk by that drawer commenting on how much stuff is in there that you never use. And every year there is that one day when you decide "It's time to clean this closet, or bookcase, or drawer, out."
So you start with all the large things, such as the books and papers and packages and any other item that is easiest to find and you being sorting. You start off by saying that you will have one pile for keeps and one pile to throw away; but as you keep cleaning you realize that the keep and don't keep piles are smaller than the maybe keep piles.
This maybe keep pile consists of all the things that have memories and stories attached to them; like the one baby story book that you would carry around with you when you were 4 because it was your favorite book ever and you had decided that you would never ever ever throw it out. Well the time has come. You are 20 years old and keeping that kind of stuff is taking up the space for you to store your late night romance novels, or last season's sports magazine with the article of your favorite football team winning the super bowl. But as you slowly push that baby story book to the don't keep pile you feel this overbearing sensation of guilt. Almost as if your younger self has traveled to the future just to tell you how ashamed you are of you. And you take that one look at the book again and snatch it back from the evil hands of the don't keep pile.
So when do you decide to throw something out, or keep it? Honestly, I'm not an expert on it. I still hold on to many of my stuffed animals, separation anxiety I guess. But I think it comes down to, if you want to keep it, you need to ask yourself, where are you going to put it? Do you want your future children to use it? How important is it to you? Seriously.
It's okay to keep holding on to things that you really have a lot of sentimental value for. But sometimes we just keep things because they are old; because you used it at one point for one time way long ago, but it was never very apparently valuable to you. I had so many children's books like those. I read them over and over again and always kept them because I thought without them I'd be kind of betraying myself. I used to imagine it coming to life and saying "You kept me for so long. HOW COULD YOU JUST THROW ME AWAY?!" Now of course they didn't do that, but it honestly felt like it should. Then I realized, I don't need them with me to keep my memories. Those books made me so happy when I read them, but it was a long time ago. It is never going to be used by me again. Now they could be making some other 4 year old just as happy as it made me.
I grew up with Andy Davis. The same year he was going off to college, I was too. And honestly, watching that movie made me happy that I gave my toys away. It's better if they get used by someone who will actually play with them.
So what I'm saying is that, it's good to keep somethings, but it's also good to give them away. Letting them rot away in that closet, drawer, or bookcase isn't doing any good for you or it. Memories are in your mind, not in the object :)
So you start with all the large things, such as the books and papers and packages and any other item that is easiest to find and you being sorting. You start off by saying that you will have one pile for keeps and one pile to throw away; but as you keep cleaning you realize that the keep and don't keep piles are smaller than the maybe keep piles.
This maybe keep pile consists of all the things that have memories and stories attached to them; like the one baby story book that you would carry around with you when you were 4 because it was your favorite book ever and you had decided that you would never ever ever throw it out. Well the time has come. You are 20 years old and keeping that kind of stuff is taking up the space for you to store your late night romance novels, or last season's sports magazine with the article of your favorite football team winning the super bowl. But as you slowly push that baby story book to the don't keep pile you feel this overbearing sensation of guilt. Almost as if your younger self has traveled to the future just to tell you how ashamed you are of you. And you take that one look at the book again and snatch it back from the evil hands of the don't keep pile.
So when do you decide to throw something out, or keep it? Honestly, I'm not an expert on it. I still hold on to many of my stuffed animals, separation anxiety I guess. But I think it comes down to, if you want to keep it, you need to ask yourself, where are you going to put it? Do you want your future children to use it? How important is it to you? Seriously.
It's okay to keep holding on to things that you really have a lot of sentimental value for. But sometimes we just keep things because they are old; because you used it at one point for one time way long ago, but it was never very apparently valuable to you. I had so many children's books like those. I read them over and over again and always kept them because I thought without them I'd be kind of betraying myself. I used to imagine it coming to life and saying "You kept me for so long. HOW COULD YOU JUST THROW ME AWAY?!" Now of course they didn't do that, but it honestly felt like it should. Then I realized, I don't need them with me to keep my memories. Those books made me so happy when I read them, but it was a long time ago. It is never going to be used by me again. Now they could be making some other 4 year old just as happy as it made me.
I grew up with Andy Davis. The same year he was going off to college, I was too. And honestly, watching that movie made me happy that I gave my toys away. It's better if they get used by someone who will actually play with them.
So what I'm saying is that, it's good to keep somethings, but it's also good to give them away. Letting them rot away in that closet, drawer, or bookcase isn't doing any good for you or it. Memories are in your mind, not in the object :)
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