Thursday, November 4, 2010

On accumulating and keeping stuff

From this NYT article, Documenting Accumulation and Its Discontents, why it can be so hard to let things go:

Per Dr. Catherine Roster:  “Getting rid of a possession means abdicating all the pleasures and rights of that possession. And that freaks people out. It goes like this: ‘I got this from Aunt Maria; I can’t get rid of it. I spent a lot of money on this; I can’t get rid of it. I wore this a year ago, I might wear it again; I can’t get rid of it. If I get rid of it, I’ve lost all these opportunities.’ That’s a kind of death.

Speaking of Dr. Roster, who'd have thought there was such a thing as the National Study Group of Chronic Disorganization?

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