Spring Break & Cleaning
Admittedly, one of the perks in working in higher education is Spring Break. No matter when the week falls, it's a good time to catch up on some things and do some spring cleaning. One of the things I'll be working on this week will be finally updating and reorganizing The Museum.
In my apartment I'm fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom which, since I don't have any kids, and most of my guests are my male friends who are used to sleeping on couches or bring an air mattress if they come over, is used as space for my Stuff. Everyone accumulates their own Stuff over time. For some it's collectables (comics, baseball cards, autographs, etc.) others it's personal memorabilia from concerts or sporting events (my friend Ryan has a great collection of basketball Stuff from famous collegiate coaches).
My Stuff place is called The Museum since, years ago when I started scrapbooking and consolidating my Stuff, it is a place to inspire creativity and reminisce about good times. The Museum has three sections: 1. The Artifacts: select items which cannot be scrapbooked and which all carry some type of story in my life. 2. Scrapbooks: each representing a time in my life (high school, college, grad school) or an interest in my life (student conferences, humorous things, sentimental things). 3. Storage: obvious not everything can be displayed in the room, so there are some things that I am not ready to part with (or haven't come up with a creative system for organization yet).
The process of updating items in The Museum always makes me feel better and refreshed about life. The process consists of three parts which I recommend to anyone who is a pack rat and is looking to do some spring cleaning of their own.
Step 1: Organizing/Sorting
I usually take a box of Stuff I've accumulated over a certain time, spread it all out on a table in my living room, put in a movie that I've seen enough to float in and out of it when I need to, and begin the sorting. I notice that as I go through the individual items instantly I'm transported to the memory it represents. This brings back a rush of excitement, a quick chuckle about a funny time, or some serious reflection.
Step 2: Keep or Throw
My mother would be amazed to know that this my favorite step in the process. I would say that one out of every three things I have ends up getting tossed. It's not that it's any more or less special to me, but it may just be that there are other ways to keep it (putting it in a journal or writing about it elsewhere) or I was glad it made me thought of the memory but I'm ok if I don't remember again. This is a fear we commonly have with most things in our lives (as a writer it's one that face routinely if I have a great idea and I'm not near a computer). Truthfully, our brains can only hold onto so much, and unlike computers, we cannot upgrade our memories. Throwing away means letting go, enjoying something for what it was without minimizing it or blowing it out of proportion. Not easy to do for some, but very therapeutic.
Step 3: Creating
Recently, with the movie Rent out on DVD, I'm reminded of the line "the opposite of war is not peace...it's creation." This is a powerful maxim for something as simple as putting together a scrapbook or photo albulm. Like the previous steps, it offers it's own benefit that you have challenged your brain and your imagination to make something that supports your heart. And because most of these things are created for ourselves, we have no expectations to meet other than a sense of accomplishment (and it's always refreshing to cross another thing off the ongoing list).
I do wish all the folks who are traveling this break (and other breaks) the best! From last year's seven state extravaganza that my friends and I went on, this year it was definitely ok to take a rest. And for those of you who are staying, check out that closet or drawer you haven't cleaned out in a while, and do some cleaning.
pb
In my apartment I'm fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom which, since I don't have any kids, and most of my guests are my male friends who are used to sleeping on couches or bring an air mattress if they come over, is used as space for my Stuff. Everyone accumulates their own Stuff over time. For some it's collectables (comics, baseball cards, autographs, etc.) others it's personal memorabilia from concerts or sporting events (my friend Ryan has a great collection of basketball Stuff from famous collegiate coaches).
My Stuff place is called The Museum since, years ago when I started scrapbooking and consolidating my Stuff, it is a place to inspire creativity and reminisce about good times. The Museum has three sections: 1. The Artifacts: select items which cannot be scrapbooked and which all carry some type of story in my life. 2. Scrapbooks: each representing a time in my life (high school, college, grad school) or an interest in my life (student conferences, humorous things, sentimental things). 3. Storage: obvious not everything can be displayed in the room, so there are some things that I am not ready to part with (or haven't come up with a creative system for organization yet).
The process of updating items in The Museum always makes me feel better and refreshed about life. The process consists of three parts which I recommend to anyone who is a pack rat and is looking to do some spring cleaning of their own.
Step 1: Organizing/Sorting
I usually take a box of Stuff I've accumulated over a certain time, spread it all out on a table in my living room, put in a movie that I've seen enough to float in and out of it when I need to, and begin the sorting. I notice that as I go through the individual items instantly I'm transported to the memory it represents. This brings back a rush of excitement, a quick chuckle about a funny time, or some serious reflection.
Step 2: Keep or Throw
My mother would be amazed to know that this my favorite step in the process. I would say that one out of every three things I have ends up getting tossed. It's not that it's any more or less special to me, but it may just be that there are other ways to keep it (putting it in a journal or writing about it elsewhere) or I was glad it made me thought of the memory but I'm ok if I don't remember again. This is a fear we commonly have with most things in our lives (as a writer it's one that face routinely if I have a great idea and I'm not near a computer). Truthfully, our brains can only hold onto so much, and unlike computers, we cannot upgrade our memories. Throwing away means letting go, enjoying something for what it was without minimizing it or blowing it out of proportion. Not easy to do for some, but very therapeutic.
Step 3: Creating
Recently, with the movie Rent out on DVD, I'm reminded of the line "the opposite of war is not peace...it's creation." This is a powerful maxim for something as simple as putting together a scrapbook or photo albulm. Like the previous steps, it offers it's own benefit that you have challenged your brain and your imagination to make something that supports your heart. And because most of these things are created for ourselves, we have no expectations to meet other than a sense of accomplishment (and it's always refreshing to cross another thing off the ongoing list).
I do wish all the folks who are traveling this break (and other breaks) the best! From last year's seven state extravaganza that my friends and I went on, this year it was definitely ok to take a rest. And for those of you who are staying, check out that closet or drawer you haven't cleaned out in a while, and do some cleaning.
pb
posted by Peter Brooks at 3:04 PM
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