I’ll start by saying that I am a reformed member of the Professional Organizer business. I was not born organized – quite the opposite. My disorganization drove me so crazy that I studied and practiced and learned to organize myself and now I take great pride in helping others do the same. Organizing IS a learned skill. Having said that I do have a category that I still struggle with though. Kidstuff.
This Fall, during the POC Virtual Summit, I learned the real reason why I kept ALL of my kids art and then later had the idea of how to solve the problem of what to do with this massive collection.
Earlier in the Fall, I had cleared out a corner in my studio to make room for a fitness machine. This corner formerly had a big art filing rack that I thought had my collage papers and art for staging in it mostly. Turns out it was filled to the brim with my kids’ art. I had asked them to come and pick out some things, which they did (they are 22 and 25), and then it was up to me to get rid of the rest. I never did, so special are these 2 sizable piles of cuteness I couldn’t stop looking at them, picking up the items and feeling happy, warm memories. I love every piece, so I am stuck.
So WHY is it more important to ME – than it is to them. WHY?
When my kids were quite little, I sometimes felt anxious and overwhelmed. Being an artist gave me the skills to easily and successfully do art with them and we had a lot of fun with it through the years. I found it relaxing and felt very confident in my abilities – my kids both have great art and design skills today so it makes me feel so proud.
My childhood art somehow didn’t survive and it made me appreciate the love and intention of my kids’ art even more. It was so positive and loving and made me feel so happy. The memories of these times were ignited by looking and touching the pieces. In my fifties now – my memory isn’t what it used to be so I have a fear of forgetting these special times.
So I thought – how would I help a client with this? I would have them explore the WHY?
Then I would ask them how will that serve them today? Creativity is needed to find a way to work with this situation.
Christmas this year was different because of Covid restrictions. Our daughters suggested we all give thoughtful handmade presents to reduce shopping, costs and volume.
I absolutely love making things and, being an artist, I appreciate creative gifts.
I bought a couple of digital photo frames and USB keys, I often recommend them to new Moms to start them on a positive path of clutter control. I tell them to take photos of their kids’ art and cute projects/achievements and then put them on a digital photo frame which the children can then have as a “collection” when they are older.
So I went back in time and took my own advice. It took a few nights to do the photos and then another afternoon to organize them all on USB keys. The result was amazing and the kids absolutely LOVED them on Xmas morning! It turns out they didn’t really look through everything the first time so they both found a few things to take home of the originals and I also picked a few of the most special things for their baby books. I kept all the photos on an external hard drive of mine and then the “collection” can go out. It no longer feels like a loss for me and we all are served by the digital record of these memorable times. It is a wonderful thing to be working out at home every day and by managing my collection and my attachment to it became a reality. I needed to dig a bit deeper to understand what these feelings meant and develop a strategy to honor those feelings but not keep everything. I feel so good about this now inside and out.
