Storage: Do we really need so much stuff in our lives?

To store or not to store, that is the question. Ah storage, that seemingly necessary entity. I spent the better part of today pouring over three bins of photos. Excruciating. I have a TV series in development and I had to find certain images that my producer needs. I was searching through an endless amount of personal and professional shots in search of a specific few that quite possibly were no longer in my possession; I had no way of knowing for sure if they were still around since there are so many unnecessary items in my storage unit, and why would I want to spend the time organizing all these stored items when I want to spend as little time in the storage room as possible. It’s in the basement of my apartment building and besides being cold and dreary, it’s creepy! After many hours had passed and the hunger pains that developed could no longer be ignored – I tend to incessantly barrel through projects, particularly the more monotonous ones, until the end goal is achieved – I finally found what I was looking for. Phew.

However, the amount of other stuff I found that at some point in time had been thrown into these boxes of photos, was unbelievable. Had I really carried around with me all these old letters, journal entries, documents and the like, for so many years? Just to be kept in boxes in different storage units wherever I happened to live up ‘til now? Why?! Aside from keeping certain items around for sentimental or monetary reasons, why on earth do we practice this crazy habit of hoarding? What do we fear will happen if we throw away, give away or re-cycle our nonessential stuff? I feel lighter when I practice the art of releasing things from my life that are no longer a part of my present reality, and I want to keep practicing this ritual of letting go until I no longer have need for a storage unit. Hooray for that day!