One of my projects this summer was to declutter the house in an attempt to reclaim some space and mitigate the excess buildup that inevitably happens when you live somewhere for a while. Sixteen garbage bags and five boxes later, there was a remarkable difference.

This was quickly reversed by my children who saw all this newfound space as an opportunity to scatter and sprawl with what remained of their items.

In any event, there is an emotional satisfaction when things get released and a renewed focus comes into being. Having this feeling while sitting at my cleared out office space led me to look at one area that often gets ignored in any cleaning or decluttering mission:

the digital realm.

Having spent many years accumulating notes and files in a poorly stitched together organization system stretched across multiple platforms, it’s time to tame this beast. While it may seem odd to suggest we can have the same emotional attachment to digital stuff as opposed to physical items, it still has the same pull.

There are many unfinished stories, most of which I have no desire to return to.
Archived emails from a decade ago that serve no purpose.
Random pdf files of readings I thought were interesting at the time.
Backups of school work for a degree program that doesn’t exist anymore.

It just keeps going.

While it doesn’t have the same physical exertion to rid myself of these items (a few keystrokes is hardly laborious), it certainly has decision fatigue. At the same time, it’s quite interesting to see a trail of what life was like over the past few decades.

The thing is, I no longer wish to be trapped there and would much prefer to clear the slate for the decades ahead. It’s time for a new focus.