=> < The Pursuit of Less: Anyone Else on This Journey? | ~whiskeyding

Our greatest struggle is I have no sentimental attachments to objects, but my wife very much does. Every item has a story, and she fears that letting go of the item will lead her to forget, or is somehow a betrayal of the memory. Things are slowly getting easier, as even she is tiring of the clutter in her spaces in the house.

Some memories are absolutely deserving of totems; they can bring back strong emotions you might have thought lost. We have a single small item from every pet we have ever had, for example. Sometimes we hold them and share stories, so they are not forgotten.

I have a vague fear that while she remembers too much, and is often a prisoner of the past...I may in time remember too little, and become adrift. I don't take pictures or otherwise attempt to document my life in any significant way, preferring to focus instead on always being present in the moment. How many precious connections will I lose for lack of something to jog my increasingly fallible memory? I don't think there is a right or wrong way to thread this particular needle.

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