April Mixed Bag: Revisiting The Past

What is it about our past life that makes us want to hold on to so many relics from it? I am speaking as a professional organizer who likes revisiting her past. There is definitely a way to do it that holds space for memories without taking up all the space in your home.

This month’s Mixed Bag is my ode to revisiting the past. My upcoming trip to London. Noticing how my feelings and sentiments have changed over time. And my favorite way to visit earlier eras of my life. All are included for your reading pleasure!

Revisiting London

In a few short days my husband and I will head off to London to visit our youngest, who is studying there this semester. I am looking forward to revisiting the past when I am there, namely my own semester abroad way back in 1991! It will be such fun to visit my old haunts in person and share them with my family.

So here’s the thing. I don’t have any of the ‘souvenirs’ I collected on my semester abroad. I didn’t save the tea tins or the postcards or the teddy bear I bought at Harrod’s (though I clearly remember them!) . What I did save is the journal I faithfully wrote in for the entire semester. The things I brought home from that semester were fine. But the way I love best to re-live that wonderful time in my life is to read about the experience through my 20-year-old eyes!

Anyway, it’s going to be fun to travel to old memories vs. keeping a bunch of stuff from the time I was there!

Feelings Can Change

I’ll report back on my London feelings at the conclusion of the trip, but oftentimes revisiting the past surprises me. I find that I don’t care about the things I’ve kept to the same degree that I did at the time that I kept them. This isn’t true of everything I kept, of course. But the very act of revisiting something I saved often illustrates for me the difference between how I thought I felt and how I truly feel.

Example: my high school and college papers. I kept a lot of them. For decades. I was an English Major and got good grades on my writing. So it seemed like the right thing to keep them. The fact that I never went back and read them should have been a major clue that they weren’t actually important. But still, I dutifully moved them several times, created a lovely home for them in an archival box and gave them a place of honor in my office. When I recently went to ‘visit’ them I realized that I still did not care to read them. I did peruse the professor comments. After that, I realized I was done. In a moment of radical honesty I realized I no longer needed to keep them. 

If you have kept a lot of stuff from your own past that you haven’t revisited in a while (or ever?) maybe don’t be so scared to let the genie out of the bottle. As it turns out, feelings change over time. You may be surprised to find that what you actually want to keep is only a quarter of what you saved back in the day.

And My Favorite Way To Revisit The Past

I will beat this drum until the day I die! Instead of keeping a bunch of things you don’t ever visit that are taking up a ton of space in your house, invest some time, energy and money in your photo memories. Photos are the best keepers of memories. If you digitize them they take up no space in your house! I have written a whole blog about this. I have also created a free checklist to help you get started. It will point you in the direction of resources to help you. If you are someone who professes to love revisiting the past, then prove it! Put your time and money where your mouth is.

My middle kid is graduating college this year (2 down! 1 to go!) Her sorority asked for 15 pictures from various stages of her life. Do you know how long it took me to ‘gather’ them? 15 minutes! And it only took that long because I was distracted as I scrolled through the cuteness! It was hard to edit down to 15…

Pictures over time. Pictures of milestone events. Pictures of people who passed on. Pictures of places you’ve been. Photos tell the stories of our lives and there are a myriad of pays to enjoy them. So get rid of all the things and focus on the pictures. You’re Welcome in advance!