I've been thinking a lot about hoarding lately. Both the actual serious medical condition, and more broadly the way we collect and keep so many objects in our lives. I've always been extremely interested in stuff like the (briefly very popular, but seemingly a bit less so these days) online minimalism movement. I love looking at a photo of someone's single 40L bag that they take travelling with them. I love thinking, "what if everything I own could fit into a bag like that?" and then never actually remotely reaching such a goal.
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| What if I only had this tote bag? Wow. |
I always think there'd be such an immense freedom in that. Just me and my Big Bag. A few years ago I bought a desktop computer. And I got a yellow desk to put my monitor on. And then I got a beautiful Rode Procaster microphone and arm from a very generous friend (thank you Hayley!). And so now there's this extra corner of my room that belongs to me. An immobile beast. I love it, and I love playing games on it, and I often use it to stream - which has earned me at least $20, if not more ;-)
But still, often I think, ok, what if I got rid of that stuff? That thing will not, unfortunately, fit in my backpack.
Digital hoarding, too, is something I'm interested by. Not least because I am always running the risk of filling up my free Google Photos storage. And nothing in this world could ever make me pay for more of it. But what am I to do with all my beautiful photos and videos? Well, lately I've been making short videos with my collected footage and posting them on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, but this practice does in fact make it so that I record a lot more videos than I otherwise would. It's very satisfying though, and I get to enjoy deleting all the footage when I'm done. Perfect.
It's easy, of course, to keep a million digital files, because they essentially take up no space. But I try to stay in the habit of constantly pruning them. I love to delete. I love to kill. Pictures are so amazing, because they help you to save memories, but in some cases I really only need what's in my head.
Still, better to keep endless digital clutter than physical. I look at my chunky black backpack wistfully. I think it's a 40L bag. It's great for travelling, and I can usually easily fit everything I need in there. But everything I own? Not even close. Maybe one day.
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| The painting I'm looking at here is 'Hof zwischen Großstadthäusern' (Courtyard between City Housing), by Erich Miller-Hauenfels. In Vienna's Leopold Museum. |
I relate so much to these thoughts! I sometimes joke I *am* in fact a minimalist, just non-practicing. Digital clutter is something I especially struggle with managing, because I never really got in the habit of cleaning out my email inbox or my files when I started using computers as a kid. I tend to archive and save most things "just in case", and recently I started realizing that I (hopefully) still have a whole life to go, and that there will be SO MUCH crap on all my devices and online accounts by the time I die if I keep going like I am now. Which is not a huge issue, but still, I think I'm going to try to take a page out of your book and start pruning. Thanks for the nice post! ❤️
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