Ben's Talk3G Blog

Changes litter our pasts like bookmarks throughout our own personal novels. One of the bigger changes in life is moving house, big in a practical sense but also in an emotional one as engaging with the 'stuff' we amass over the years can be a powerful trigger of memories.

Some of these memories will be good, others bad, but many will be somewhere in between. Some we'll dwell on and wonder about, some we'll regret, and what's left will make us realise just how much we've changed as we're thrown back to forgotten moments.

I'm in the process of moving right now, and to start with I've just taken what I need. As it turns out, that's not very much! I'd be surprised if I've got even a tenth of my wardrobe, and other than for underwear and some spare cables I've not even delved into my bedroom draws. Even photographs, the few tangible prints that I have, are yet to follow me to my new home.

This begs a difficult question. Since I clearly don't need the vast majority of my 'stuff', and don't seem to miss it at the moment, should I bring any of it at all? If I do bring some, how do I decide what makes the cut and what doesn't?

A part of me would like to start over, but I've got a feeling that, somewhere down the line when I'm feeling all misty eyed and nostalgic, I'll crave for some of the crap, ahem, stuff, that I've collected as time has gone on. If only I could fast-forward a decade to figure out what things, and their associated memories, I'm going to care about...