So I guess I am a packrat.
I have been trying to clear out a room upstairs to make room for a new roommate. But, I cannot throw things away.
I have this conch shell which has a big gaping hole in it. Not the natural kind of hole. It is the broken kind of hole. I picked this up when I was in the Bahamas. And, I suppose I illegally took it off the island. But I really like it. Well, I really only like it when I go through my stuff trying to organize. You see, I do not use it or even put it anywhere to view, except in a box. Its primary use for me is to remind me of the Bahamas trip and the symbolism of a broken shell of a man who walked around the island by himself because he had no friends with him. The fact that it was broken made it much easier to take with me. I was not sure of the law, but I am sure no one would object to a broken conch shell.
Back to the room. I also have lots of tv cable. I have speaker wire and a shoebox full of various wires, connectors, and old electronic things. Some may think this stuff is actually cool electronic gadgetry. Not even close. I am not that type of guy. I just have this inane sense that I will need something in this box one day. Like, a giant Nokia cell phone is going to come in handy at some point... The crazy thing is that I have lived all these years and never once have I used anything in there since it got stowed away. Not that I am old. It just seems like if I was a MacGyver type person, this box could have some purpose. And, I suppose that I am thinking that one day I will be like MacGyver. Why am I thinking this?
Earlier this year I dug out a spot for a tree and I kept all the dirt and rocks. One day I was sorting the rocks into respective buckets and my wife came over to ask what in the world I was doing. And somehow, it made sense in my mind that we may one day need lots of little stones and rocks for some sort of area in the yard.
It is almost like I am coming out of the Great Depression. I do this for everything. I have papers and software at work from 6 years ago. It is stuff I will never use. I get these magazines and I think that one day I will have the desire to actually read them. MSDN and SQL Server magazine! Woo hoo! Bring 'em on! My parents went through their attic a few years ago and counted 17 boxes that were mine. What am I clinging to? There were homework assignments from high school up there.
This is kind of freaky. The more I think about it the weirder it gets. I suppose in a way, it is some sort of tracking mechanism. Because I do not take enough pictures and write enough down, I have to preserve my memories and identity within other items. But those things are starting to tie me down. It is a pain to have to decide what to do with all this stuff.
I need to start coming up with rules. This will require some deep thought. Basically, if I cannot foresee some way of using the item, I need to throw it out. However, I need to really think about it before I toss it. I do not want to get careless. I do like to be prepared for things, but I think this stuff is becoming junk.
I have been trying to clear out a room upstairs to make room for a new roommate. But, I cannot throw things away.
I have this conch shell which has a big gaping hole in it. Not the natural kind of hole. It is the broken kind of hole. I picked this up when I was in the Bahamas. And, I suppose I illegally took it off the island. But I really like it. Well, I really only like it when I go through my stuff trying to organize. You see, I do not use it or even put it anywhere to view, except in a box. Its primary use for me is to remind me of the Bahamas trip and the symbolism of a broken shell of a man who walked around the island by himself because he had no friends with him. The fact that it was broken made it much easier to take with me. I was not sure of the law, but I am sure no one would object to a broken conch shell.
Back to the room. I also have lots of tv cable. I have speaker wire and a shoebox full of various wires, connectors, and old electronic things. Some may think this stuff is actually cool electronic gadgetry. Not even close. I am not that type of guy. I just have this inane sense that I will need something in this box one day. Like, a giant Nokia cell phone is going to come in handy at some point... The crazy thing is that I have lived all these years and never once have I used anything in there since it got stowed away. Not that I am old. It just seems like if I was a MacGyver type person, this box could have some purpose. And, I suppose that I am thinking that one day I will be like MacGyver. Why am I thinking this?
Earlier this year I dug out a spot for a tree and I kept all the dirt and rocks. One day I was sorting the rocks into respective buckets and my wife came over to ask what in the world I was doing. And somehow, it made sense in my mind that we may one day need lots of little stones and rocks for some sort of area in the yard.
It is almost like I am coming out of the Great Depression. I do this for everything. I have papers and software at work from 6 years ago. It is stuff I will never use. I get these magazines and I think that one day I will have the desire to actually read them. MSDN and SQL Server magazine! Woo hoo! Bring 'em on! My parents went through their attic a few years ago and counted 17 boxes that were mine. What am I clinging to? There were homework assignments from high school up there.
This is kind of freaky. The more I think about it the weirder it gets. I suppose in a way, it is some sort of tracking mechanism. Because I do not take enough pictures and write enough down, I have to preserve my memories and identity within other items. But those things are starting to tie me down. It is a pain to have to decide what to do with all this stuff.
I need to start coming up with rules. This will require some deep thought. Basically, if I cannot foresee some way of using the item, I need to throw it out. However, I need to really think about it before I toss it. I do not want to get careless. I do like to be prepared for things, but I think this stuff is becoming junk.
4 comments:
I'm big into trying to get rid of things I just don't use. It's hard to break sentimental attachments. It is possible though, I even trashed my 1984 BYU championship signed football (Signatures were just printed). I read http://unclutterer.com for good ideas on breaking my packrat ways.
How do you get rid of old albums? Even if you have the cd?
I made a blog just so I could comment on yours.
Old albums might fall under the rules of things that cannot be thrown out.
Here is my list of things I cannot throw out:
1. Writings
2. Anything Star Wars
3. Photos
4. Really cool, unique items like a shell with a big hole in it.
5. Xing clothing
I struggle with this too...i have so much crap in my office upstairs its crazy. But, what's even crazier is that I have some strange index in my mind of all this crap so that when the days come where I need to be MacGyver, I know where the stuff is...and, once you have MAcGyvered from your crap once, it becomes much harder to start throwing out crap.
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