I am a pack rat. I keep papers, articles, books, cards, notes, pictures.... You get the idea.
I am also an electronic pack rat. I keep extensive folders of emails so I can (in theory) find things later. But with 6 email accounts, it has gotten completely out of hand. Email has become oppressive. I tend to avoid it because I don't want to deal with all of it, but that just makes everything worse. I am seriously contemplating just deleting everything.
Everything.
And starting from scratch.
Have you ever done that? I'm trying to figure out if that is a good idea. I am just certain that the minute after I do it, I am going to want something I can no longer get. It's the thought process of a pack rat. And I know that if I do it, but don't develop a new email philosophy, I'll be right back in this spot a few months from now....
The fear of losing something important wars with the lure of complete electronic freedom.
Freedom. . . .
Showing posts with label pack rat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pack rat. Show all posts
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Posted with Blogsy
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Organized Pack Rat Paradox
As soon as the school year wrapped up, I started cleaning out the library.
I took on my new job about a week and a half before school started last year. I had enough time in my new space to get a basic lay of the land, but there was a lot of material and no time to really dig into it to see what I had. All year I kept telling myself that I would sort my space out this summer.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my wish list of summer tasks is far too long to be reasonable, but cleaning out the office and organizing the library is a non-negotiable task. I have been dragging bags to the trash and recycling bins like a woman on a quest. In my frantic purging efforts, I have discovered some real treasures - resources that will be a great help to me in the coming years of teaching. But there have been moments where I have felt torn between my desperation about cleaning out and reorganizing my space and my pack rat tendencies. I hate the idea that I might throw out something I'm going to want later.
For example, I found a large stash of posters and poster boards stacked against the wall behind a box and other things I had shoved in the corner as the year was winding down. I threw away a large stack of poster projects completed by previous years' students. I reviewed book and reading-related posters, keeping ones that fit my personal style and sharing the rest with my colleagues. And I found several poster board game boards. I had no idea what sort of game they would go with, so I left those for my creative colleagues who might develop a game to go with the completed board.
Several hours after making that decision, I found the games that went with the game boards. Thankfully I was able to reclaim the boards before they disappeared. This only fueled my pack rat panic! As much as I want to purge the space and organize it anew, I also find myself thinking, "but I might want this later."
I'm afraid I will have to do this clean out again next year when I see how much of what I am saving I won't use this year, either.
I took on my new job about a week and a half before school started last year. I had enough time in my new space to get a basic lay of the land, but there was a lot of material and no time to really dig into it to see what I had. All year I kept telling myself that I would sort my space out this summer.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my wish list of summer tasks is far too long to be reasonable, but cleaning out the office and organizing the library is a non-negotiable task. I have been dragging bags to the trash and recycling bins like a woman on a quest. In my frantic purging efforts, I have discovered some real treasures - resources that will be a great help to me in the coming years of teaching. But there have been moments where I have felt torn between my desperation about cleaning out and reorganizing my space and my pack rat tendencies. I hate the idea that I might throw out something I'm going to want later.
For example, I found a large stash of posters and poster boards stacked against the wall behind a box and other things I had shoved in the corner as the year was winding down. I threw away a large stack of poster projects completed by previous years' students. I reviewed book and reading-related posters, keeping ones that fit my personal style and sharing the rest with my colleagues. And I found several poster board game boards. I had no idea what sort of game they would go with, so I left those for my creative colleagues who might develop a game to go with the completed board.
Several hours after making that decision, I found the games that went with the game boards. Thankfully I was able to reclaim the boards before they disappeared. This only fueled my pack rat panic! As much as I want to purge the space and organize it anew, I also find myself thinking, "but I might want this later."
I'm afraid I will have to do this clean out again next year when I see how much of what I am saving I won't use this year, either.
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