#95 CHECK!!!!

I'm not going to lie...I was a little nervous to check off this goal because it required some purging, both physically throwing things out AND emotionally purging some things.  I'm happy to say, though, that I have (for the most part) checked off...

95. Go through all my old photo albums, journals, and mementos and purge some things

...and boy was it needed!

Since long before I got married I have kept journals and photo albums of almost everything in my life.  Friendships, difficulties, relationships, family issues.  All have been cataloged and kept in boxes.  Thousands of pictures.  Around 7-10 journals.  All telling the story of my life.  While these pictures and journals held a lot of fun memories and crazy experiences, they also held a lot of pain and sorrow.  I'm not sure why I held onto many of these things for so long but needless to say, having been a pack rat since I was a small child, I still had them all when we made our most recent move.

As I made my 101 List Round 2, I decided that it was time for me to get rid of some emotional clutter still hanging around in my life.  Even though I lived through and dealt with most of the more difficult parts of my pre-married life before last month, the constant presence of reminders of those times was unnecessary.

So, over my winter break from work, I purged!  I'm going to be honest that there is still a box or two in the garage that hold some items from high school that I could probably get rid of, but it was the box of photo albums and journals that were my intent when I set this goal.

It only took me about 2 hours to go through everything in my boxes (a lot less than I expected).  As I began to read through journals and look through photos, it became easier and easier to toss things into the throw out pile.  I thought there were be a lot of emotion to relive some elements of my 20s especially, but there wasn't.  It was fun to feel the healing that I've experienced through Jesus Christ and I really didn't feel connected to a lot of the items I had been saving for all these years.  There were many photos that I kept (mostly from my childhood) because they are just plain awesome.  I was kinda a cute kid.  But other than that, it left my house and I love it!

TRASHED IT!

KEPT IT!

If you're holding onto memories that are probably not the most healthy to be holding onto, I would highly recommend making this a goal of yours.  Whether you're married or not, holding onto reminders of painful memories is not good.  Get rid of it and let God build new memories into your life.  Totally worth it!