I have to be really honest with you. Some of this is going to be hard and scary, but push through. I had lumped the majority of things I had left to sort into one room. Then I dreaded the day I would have to sort through the worst of it: mountains of pictures, letters, cards, journals, tons of writing, etc. Today is that day. I'm only half way through it. I will finish it today, though. The pictures are the hardest. I've read a lot of minimalists' blogs and none that I've seen so far have addressed this. Yes, I can store them all digitally, but it would take me months. I have more pressing issues. Still, I cannot part with them. My parents are gone - one deceased and one completely off the rails. I am the keeper of all the family pictures. I imagine myself going through them with family someday when I'm much older. There are thousands of negatives in addition to all the photos. All I can do today is organize them a little and box them up for safe keeping. There's a great song by John Mayer about trying to fit the world inside a picture frame... I'm working on this problem, John. Baby steps. I will reach a point where I do not want to hang on to all of those pictures, but I am clearly not there yet. There are some gray areas for me, plenty.
That being said, I only began minimizing my belongings less than two months ago. I've made great strides! I have to give myself credit. I now own much, much, much less. I also have to be perfectly clear that this has not been some big, long, never ending picnic. It is a really tough self-examination at times. I had far too much to keep track of and take care of. It was weighing me down in ways I didn't even realize. I had a lot of feelings toward my belongings that I didn't realize either. There are things we face everyday that will stir up negative feelings. That is unavoidable. However, we can change what we are seeing most of the time and change our thoughts as well. It is another story to essentially choose to marinate in negative feelings dredged up by the belongings with which we surround ourselves. It is no wonder a bare room feels so uplifting. I used to love antiques, but now they feel heavy to me, heavy with history. Not that I want to surround myself with all things made fifteen minutes ago either. I prefer space - clean, light, energy-charging space.
Now I must get back to 'the room' and create that space. Before I do, I just want to quickly say that I had struggled since I'd returned home from my trip, to make peace with the time I am spending minimizing. Now that I was home I felt downright panicky about not working for a month. I felt irresponsible and stressed. Suddenly my head was filled with thoughts of getting into Chicago and getting right to work to make some money. I started fighting ghosts in my head who were judging me for wasting time when I should be working. Then I balanced my checkbook, realized I would be okay and set myself straight. How many times in my life will I have a window of opportunity like this to sort through all of my belongings and discard the vast majority of what has been weighing me down!? This is a magical time in my life, and I intend to make the most of it. This year has been life-changing in so many ways, but the biggest, clearly is the way it has helped me determine how I do and do not want to live my life. I am taking action. I am making the necessary changes and fast. As for the people I am afraid of being judged by... would they ever have the guts for such an undertaking? I have to remember that. They may think I've lost my mind and minimalism may not be for everyone, but I am simply taking my life into my hands like never before and I am going to mold and shape it into exactly what I want it to be.
On a lighter note, it's interesting the things we save. I've noticed I've saved a lot of things just because I thought I was supposed to like, old bills, manuals to every contraption I own (which I will never read) and bunches of computer cords that go to God-knows-what.
What did you decide about your pictures? I have struggled with mine for over a decade. I finally sorted through them a couple of years ago, divided them by 3, kept part for me and mailed the rest to my sister & brother. I didn't want to be "keeper of the photos" And then I pared down more a couple of weeks ago as I decided I HAD to get them scrap booked. I realized that when I look back at old family photos (antique ones) that one or 2 pictures of each person is really enough. I ended up keeping 2 facing pages for each person. But then I let go of the rest. This way my sons can see their family, but I only have a couple of scrapbooks to deal with instead of stacks and boxes of pictures. Now for my digitals...that's a whole other "ball of wax"
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