A few years ago, I worked at a web design agency as a product manager. The part of the job I loved the most was working on product with our design team and clients. Unfortunately, this was only about 10 percent of the work that I actually got to do. The majority of the time, I was trying to control the constant flow of stuff–keeping track of meeting notes, searching for files, and trying to stay up-to-date with the latest technology news.
I was mentally exhausted. I’d get home feeling that I hadn’t really accomplished anything.
Thanks to Alexandra Bond for sharing this on Facebook. I like how it talks about digital clutter as well as the physical type, such as cluttered PC desktops or multiple notifications when you get e-mails or texts. Each thing is one more thing your mind has to deal with, and then either let go or hoard. No wonder I am so scattered all the time. A friend of mine has long described my brain (and he was being honest, not putting me down) as organised the same way I do my closet, in shifting piles that have no real categorisation or boundaries. He's right. Yet, I can organise other people's stuff. As a librarian, that's pretty much what I do all day. The difference? I have no emotional attachment to other people's things. But for me, a broken piece of my great-grandmother's china, a six-month old unopened bill, a favourite top (even stained), sometimes simple recyclables--all become difficulties to face. Before they put in recycling containers in our apartment complex, I hoarded lots of stuff that was recyclable with the idea that I would take it somewhere to be recycled, even when I didn't have a car or any way of getting them there. I tend to even hoard e-mail and e-books.
I also do a pretty decent job of keeping my desk at work straightened and organised. Even if my journals haven't been shelved, they're at least in a pile in an out of way spot. I have a hard time working with clutter. But I do admit, I sometimes hoard books that should have been weeded ages ago, and indeed, have been from the general collection but not actually from storage. I'll have to deal with that eventually, as the library is not going to the new building (nor am I, unfortunately, although I have a bit of time before that happens), and I'll have to oversee its release into the wild, as it were, either by finding new homes for old books and journals or recycling them.
And of course, one of the occupational hazards of being a librarian is that you tend to collect and buy books. I have lots of books. I'm not even sure how many. I have two new ones sitting on my desk at work that were delivered today, Gary Corby's Sacred Games, a mystery set in ancient Greece, and a collection of several Pippi Longstocking tales. I should probably stop getting books, but I don't foresee that happening. And like I said, I get them on the Kindle, too, mostly free ones, but some I've bought, and I probably have more than I can read reasonably. Bibliophilic hoarding is a special subcategory, I suppose. But at least it's better than hoarding animals. My books aren't going to get me in trouble with the law, are enlightening when read, and are generally well-cared for. :) I have come to the conclusion that at some point I will have to actually weed them and take those to the library for the Friends of the Lexington Public Library to sell or do with as they please. That day is coming, but not tonight. Anyway, it's an interesting article. Check it out.