If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, then you know that I am sentimental to a fault. I've always known that I was sentimental, but I don't think I realized that I was too sentimental until recently.
I just couldn't imagine throwing away a card or letter from a friend. I never even thought about deleting e-mail from friends—it all went into a separate folder. I collected the front page of newspapers whenever big national events occurred. I kept almost every issue of some of my favorite magazines. I routinely had an inbox piled full of paperwork that I meant to handle, but often never found the time.
The result of all this, as you might imagine, is a house full of stuff. I've already written a couple of posts about my decision to go through my basement to get rid of most of the junk that has piled up over the years because I just felt like I had to hold on to it. I'm still making progress. I spend 15 minutes every day throwing stuff away and I've made enormous strides.
What has brought me to the point of realizing that I'm too sentimental and as a result, have kept too much stuff that clutters my house? A lot of little things. Moving it all a couple of times in the last five or six years. Never being able to find what I'm looking for because it's all buried in the avalanche of stuff. And a growing belief, rooted in my theology, that I ought to run my house, not the other way around.
I'm the type of person who externally appears to transition from one period of life to the next quite well. I'm mild-mannered and don't show a lot of emotion one way or the other—although I often would like to. But internally, it's a different story. I don't like change. So, I guess my way of dealing with it has been to hang on to little tangible pieces of the past.
But for all of the reasons I listed above, I've come to a place in my life when I want to think about the possibilities of a good future and stop thinking so much about the past. As for the present—I'd be happy if I could finally get organized.
