Maybe it's all those issues of Real Simple finally catching up to me but I've decided it's time to rid my life/closet/computer/boxes of the heaps of clutter I've managed to accumulate over the years.
I'm still not feeling awesome today so I took the opportunity of a lazy Sunday afternoon to comb my iTunes for stuff I don't really listen to. And I think I just figured out why I have WAY TOO MUCH CRAP.
I absolutely hate to miss out on things. It's why I was always the last one to sleep at a slumber party or why my 1:00 classes in college often got missed if more then two people were going to lunch somewhere-I just never want to hear later about something super fun. As an adult with a job and responsibilities I have had to learn that sometimes you do have to say no and just drool over the photos on Facebook later.
Well apparently my need to experience everything has displaced itself into my complete inability to let go of any piece of music that comes into my hands. My iTunes is full to the brim with stuff I have never listened to and stuff that I guarantee I WILL never listen to. But if someone gave it to me, or I downloaded it from some music blog or it's by an artist whose other work I like, I just cannot take the chance that I might be missing out on some fantastic tune if I don't hang onto it. Forget that I am constantly looking for new stuff and it's highly unlikely that I will eventually give a fair shot to "the best of 2005" I downloaded years ago from a now defunct mp3 blog. In my head, any song I delete was probably a hidden gem I have now completely missed. What if I delete something and the memory attached to it is lost forever too?
Today's discovery went a long way to explain why I have 2100 messages in my gmail inbox, 3 bins of pants I haven't worn in three years under my bed and the pay stubs from 2002 that I finally shredded a few weeks ago.
So today I was ruthless. One play in four years? Gone. No clue who the artist is and where I got it? Gone. Tired of it? Gone. The reality is that I am constantly seeking out new music-whether new to the world or new to me-and if it really was a mistake to get rid of all those tracks by some italian pop group my friend gave me over iChat at 2:00 in the morning four years ago well, that is just a chance that this girl is willing to take. I'm secretly hoping that once I master throwing out old, unneeded pieces of the past, I can do that in my brain as well.
Next stop-the closet. I'm totally on a mission!
p.s. Here is a song I had sort of forgotten about that I ran across during my ransacking that I will never throw away ever.
5 comments:
brilliant. I'm the same way, don't want to miss out on anything.
good luck. now just watch out for the "second thought phenomenon." Emily wrote about it last year, where you realize every time you wear a pair of pants that you hate them and you want to get rid of them but every time the pants are on their way to D.I. you suddenly think "Well, maybe I need them." and the cycle repeats.
i fully support your purge. so proud of you.
Way to go! :) I have been trying to do that for 2 months now. LOL Good luck!
I am just like you! I don't want to miss out on anything! I have that same problem with my itunes.
You are an inspiration. Good luck with the cleansing!
you are inspiring me. i have thought about doing the same thing for a long time now - especially after watching that peter walsh guy on oprah. he is ruthless! my itunes is way too big and takes up way too much memory and i need to cut out 80% of it that i don't even listen to anymore! thanks for sharing!
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