Letting Go of Books, False Guilt, and Fears of Jericho

As I said in my first post ages ago, I am still digging through a few generations of clutter along with my own. The great archeological dig through my deceased relatives' stuff continues, but now I am spending 50% of my energy on my own stuff--bum bum bum! No one to blame but myself if I don't like having this stuff around.


It's Spring Break and I have time to spend on those little (big) nagging projects, and tonight I decided to check the shelves and tables in my bedroom, where I obviously keep my own books. And as I sat trying to understand why it's hard for me to let go of my own books, I realized I had a couple things going on: guilt and "the shoulds."


I think I learned about "shoulding" from the Fly Lady. Yes, there are things you should and must do in life, but false guilt and obligations are just yucky, icky motivations that pose as "shoulds." And I was "shoulding" over my books, as in, "You should read that shiny Jennifer Weiner book again--you bought it, and you enjoyed it before, even though the mystery plot was weak." Or, "That John Eldredge book had some great spiritual lesson. If you don't read it again, you won't remember what wonderful thing it taught you!" (Religious shoulding is the worst.) I've known about false guilt for years, but having guilt and fear over my own books is a bit much.


When I was younger, I was more attached to my books, but with the internet, my awesome public library, and Netflix, I have constant access to information and entertainment. Yes, these things change my decisions on whether I want to keep a book, as well as if I really should in a healthy sense. I also sometimes think if Armageddon comes and I can't get to the library or get a TV signal, then yes, I will want all those books because I'll be bored and poor. I guess I need to live on faith that I'll have enough books left to keep me entertained if things go the way of Jericho, that show where the U.S. gets nuked. I'll be busy farming in the backyard anyways. Oh, the things I think of while decluttering.


I'm pretty sure Hoarders' Dr. Robin Zasio would call my outlandish fear a thought distortion. And after reading much of Dr. Zasio's book, The Hoarder in You, I can recognize how my thinking is similar to my relatives' who went through the Great Depression. I recommend her book if you inherited some mess and/or are fighting your own clutter tendencies. It's definitely helped me this week as I attacked areas of my home--it sheds light on  mindsets that get your relatives and you into trouble. Clearly the fear of scarcity, along with false guilt, take up both mental and physical space. As Dr. Zasio says, if you are already fighting clutter and needing space, it's okay to let go of an item of value if it's just not valuable enough to you anymore. Fair enough.


I've decided to ask myself these questions as I purge the shelves:
Do I love this book?
Will I read it again?
Do I have weird should/guilt feelings about it?
Am I okay with giving it away to the library or another charity?
Will someone else get more pleasure from it at this time?
Is it worth the space it takes up?


Wish me luck.

HOT LOCAL TIP: If you have hard-to-give-away books, e.g. several yearbooks from the 1950s and 1960s, Austin's Recycled Reads will sell them or responsibly recycle them. Hurrah! You can try to sell yearbooks online, but I noticed most vendors are just selling reprints, not actual old books that are all signed up.