Cleaning Out the Clutter

So we all know what time of year it is and we all know the amount of tidying up and cleaning out that needs to be done in preparation for the holidays. I am sure all you guys are busy tidying up and buying gorceries to prepare for family dinners and christmas spectacles. The Christmas clean for my family this year will take a week, because our house is currently in renovation mode. So I decided to get started and do a little tidy of my own that started with the entire kitchen, vaccuming, and my current spare room. Afterwards, I came to the conclusion that my email inbox could also need some emptying and sorting in order to prepare for the new year. So needless to say, I went through hundreds of old messages, photos, and even letters and it brought about some questions.

First, I must say that an organized email makes life a whole lot simpler. Less clutter is always good but organization makes things a lot easier to find. However, deleting certain items was not easy especially the ones of a personal nature. Who knew I would have so many letters from a few years back that still didn't have a folder or place to go. Some of them brought up happy memories for example the one of what music to listen to when you need to jump on the bed and just let yourself go and not think so hard (that came from a need to destress after a tough paper or exam). Others were more of a serious nature including proclamations of affection, or of friendship or of loss. All of the messages needed to be sorted and I was determined to do it.

It turns out I had a lot of old messages that included songs I used to replay over and over again, photos of my friends and I in high school and even some from hikes I took, and kids I lead in camp. These were amusing to go through and I realized then that some pictures were never posted because I either forgot or I procrastinated. So the good news is that the photo of me being a cheerleader for a day can be hidden away in a folder for a few more years and the photos of friends and myself being goofy can be posted in old albums or in my room. The other side to these new findings were the emotions they triggered. It is amazing how pictures can trigger emotions that you have buried and words in letters are played over and over again in your mind to the tune of the first time they were read. I remembered the first time I opened some of the messages and the reactions I had. I even remembered the song that was playing in the background when they were opened. My long term memory was being tapped into and I can say that some of the messages were too difficult to open, because I realized they would always carry certain ties to past relationships either romantic or plutonic. I began to ask myself is letting go of the reminders of what has been really necessary in order to move on or should certain things remain?

Tell me readers. What do you think?

Is it necessary to let go of the remnants of our past? If so, is there a perfect time to let them go?