August 9, 2012

Dear <<First Name>>:

Welcome to another edition of the life [simplified] letter.

News

Mosquitoes and Heat

It's good to be home. I'm glad to be back in my own place, my own bed and working in my own office.

I am not, however, thrilled about the mosquitoes and the humid heat here in Edmonton, AB. I have spent most of my time indoors this week to avoid bites and heat stroke.

The good news is that I have a great excuse as to why my garden has not been weeded since I got home.

The Book Collection

How I let go

You simplify aspects of your life because they no longer are that appealing to you, not because you feel an overt need to simplify. ~ Thomas J. Leonard

Last year, I gave away almost all of the my books in my collection. I'm talking about twenty boxes full of books. Some of them unread.

It took me a while to actually pack up my books into boxes once I had made the decision to get rid of them. I had a number of excuses as to why I was holding back. There was the cost of the books; I had probably spent thousands of dollars on books over the years. I liked having all those books displayed on book shelves. I felt intelligent or worldly because of my book collection. I enjoyed being able to browse though my collection once in a while even if I didn't get around to reading all of them.

On the other hand, the collection felt like a burden. All those books took a wall of shelves to store. I felt guilty about not reading some of those books. Some of the books were out-dated, too. For example, I still held onto a number of my old college textbooks. With the Internet at my fingertips, there was no need to keep out-dated books.

Despite my hesitation, I finally started packing. After some research and a few emails, I found a home for the books at the Reuse Centre in downtown Edmonton, AB. The old textbooks were recycled by tearing off the hard covers and throwing them into the recycling bin. Unfortunately, there isn't a market for twenty year old textbooks.

That was just the start. I've been back to the Reuse Centre two more times with books in hand. I now have about fifteen books left. Most of these books are ones I keep for reference or have a very special meaning for me. The quote at the beginning comes from one of those books: The Portable Coach.

How am I feeling now that most of my books are gone? Liberated! While I might feel nostalgic about books, I don't let that feeling stop me from maintaining a simple book collection. I have let go of the huge book collection because it no longer serves my lifestyle to keep twenty boxes worth of books.

Your life [simplified]

Are you a bibliophile? Do you keep masses of books around? Are they a comfort or could you see yourself letting them go?

Maybe you don't want to make a drastic change like I did, but what if you started by saying goodbye to old textbooks? What is you said goodbye to books you have read but don't intend to read again?

Let me know if you give up a few books in your collection.

Have a great week!

Cheers,
Catherine

P.S. Check out my letter archives if you are interested in reading back issues.