Running with Scissors: KonMari and Photos

I am shredding photos!

Spark joy photo of new college grad mom and me!

I am on the second time through KonMari and while I am doing most of it in order (currently on papers), I am also slowly working through photos since just photos alone seems like a 100+ hour project requiring ongoing sessions.

Dealing with photos, especially the shredding photos, feels a bit like running with scissors. You just don't do it. It is forbidden behavior.

Here are some reflections of what I am learning while dealing with my photos. Imagine me standing at the shredding machine, feeding photos into the jaws of the metal teeth, shredding and shedding the usual and ordinary ways of dealing with photos...

* Yes, take every photo out of the albums!

Marie Kondo has this as a cardinal rule. When I left the photos in the albums the first time through my KonMari festival, I kept 99% of the photos. This time I am taking them out of the albums and it seems to wake them up... and I am dealing with photos differently. I have deeper reactions to the photos—and finding out that some photos spark no joy or are "flat."

* I discovered that the photos I had from an earlier relationship (prior to my husband) that half of them sparked joy and half of them did not. When I looked at the keep and discard piles I saw clearly how much happiness I had during the early times and how much sadness—even during "happy" events—I had in the second half.

* It mattered whether or not I kept or discarded the non-spark joy relationship photos. Getting rid of them was cathartic and freeing. And I know now when I view the kept photos I will be experiencing the best parts—I don't need to (low level, mostly subconsciously) suffer or re-experience the sad parts of the latter times by keeping those era of photos.

* It is okay to just keep what triggers happy memories. I do not have to be a martyr to my photos in service to vague ideas like being an unofficial "family historian" or keep sad memories to make sure I don't forget lessons learned.

* Shred in private! These are my photos and I do not need to give an accounting to any one for any reason which I kept or shredded.

* I repeat for emphasis—I do not need to keep photos of events or people under some banner of obligation to be a history keeper, memory keeper, etc through the keeping of photos.

* Of the albums I made years ago for my children, I am keeping them mostly as-is since they practically have those albums memorized. But the piles of loose un-albumized photos are going through a strict spark-joy process.

* What a burden we have made from the miracle of modern photography! Especially in the heyday of the point and click camera and the inexpensive 2-for-1 printing offers, I have been buried in photos. I am sure I am not the only one. I was struck by the idea that a hundred years ago most families had just a few family photos and they lived perfectly happy lives.

* I am more charmed by the 20 or so black-and-white photos I have of my mother's childhood than the thousands of color photos I have of my own childhood and those of my children. Quite-a-few-less might just be more.

* I still feel the weight of the photos—the albums and loose photos. Not close to click point yet but the piles are greatly reduced.

* I SHREDDED ALL THE NEGATIVES. I have kept the negatives for 20+ years and only once ever accessed them for a reprint. I can totally live with those being gone, especially in the day and age of digital scanning options.

* My 20th wedding anniversary is upcoming and I never albumized our wedding photos! Talk about drowning in so many other photos such that I did not even "see" what really does spark joy. I look forward to going through all our loose wedding photos, ditching the bad shots, ditching duplicates, ditching negatives, and selecting and displaying our spark joy wedding photos!