Collecting with too much nostalgia

    I have always collected everything that was given to me. I have boxes full of mementos: a box for birthday cards, past relationships, photographs, shells, and etc. I never wanted to get rid of anything when I was younger. I felt that if I did, I would lose all memories of that particular moment because I would not have something to trigger my memory. Most people feel the same way; we all have trouble giving away the things that meant so much to us as kids. In a way these things, these material things, are what we feel define us. Say someone new comes into your room, he or she will see everything that you believe defines you as a person. We all need something. On a side note, I suppose thats why "man" needs property, to feel he is defining or showing his worth. However as I grew older, I realized that keeping lots of things also meant I was a hoarder and I really did not want that. It was also becoming exceedingly difficult to part from things, small things including wrappers. Therefore I started purging everything slowly.
    This is the problem that many people face. We always feel a close tie to whatever we have acquired into our possession. But in reality, we do not need all these things. These things are all material things. We actually should be worried about our memories and the effects of Alzheimer's. Like I mentioned, these things define us. However we should not let material define who we are. If someone is rude, that person is rude and theres no denying it. No matter how much material that person has, that person is rude.
    In this society today, we are constantly bombarded by the media to have certain material goods. These goods are not doing anything for us. We worry when we text someone that we will lose the conversations that we have or we worry that we need to reblog or like everything that catches our fancy on Tumblr because we might forget it. We need to stop being like this. We need to stop being so consumed by everything around us. We do not need all the things that others say we need. At most, we need food, water, air, and freedom.
    I decided to be, as my mother pointed out, minimalistic around the time I decided not to come back home for the summer. I realized that I'm at a point in my life where I don't actually need all the things I have. I do not need all of it because I will not always be in the same place to let things accumulate. I've already made so much progress. I really hope I can make more later on.
    What inspired me was this article about this minimalistic lifestyle on A Cup of Jo: Living With Less. Does happiness really come with less? I hope it does. Not that I'm not happy, I'm super happy! Though I have to agree. If I did have less things I would not worry so much about such things.

Purge your life and be free.

Cheers,
Claire