Decluttering - When You Can't Let Go

I love this whole decluttering thing. It's everywhere, isn't it? The whole 'life is better when you have less stuff' philosophy. And I really do love it, it feels great to clear a space, rid myself of things I no longer want or need. I've done massive amounts of decluttering in the past 12 months or so. One of my big weaknesses is paperwork. I have a tendency to hang on to paper that has 'important stuff' on it. Like payslips from my first job. 18 years ago. Yes, they're gone now, but I refuse to get rid of the associated tax returns. I am keeping them, every last one that I've done, and that is final.

But on to another little problem I have - books! I just can't seem to bring myself to get rid of them. Well, not entirely true, I did sell a bunch of Bryce Courtney books at our community garage sale back in March. It was a little bit hard but I did it. I mean, I've read them, they were good and all, but life is busy and am I ever likely to read them again? No, not really. And then there are the text books. Big, heavy, probably well outdated, text books. You know I have 3 statistics text books on the shelf? Seriously, I have about zero need for them. But I can't let go! 

I guess I have a case of serious emotional attachment to them. It seems they are something of a shrine to a former life, a former career, a course of study that I put myself through when I didn't know what the heck else to do with myself. Perhaps just having them there makes me feel smart. Like I need a reminder, or so other people will think I'm smart. Scary, but possibly true? Or what if I get rid of them, and then suddenly have a burning need to look something up, something that I could only possibly find in Global Business Today? Which is no doubt too old to be relevant anyway!

I would love to lighten the load further, have less clutter and less stuff in my life, and create more space in this nice and not huge home of ours. I suspect it would feel very liberating to let all these books go too. Like I'm not tied in to that part of my life. And allow myself to really move on from that time. I wonder what it is I'm holding on to, exactly. Perhaps I want my son to grow up surrounded by books. But even so, surely it would be better to have books that he's likely to read? But what if he wants to read about economics, and all those books were gone?

I guess he would have to find his own books, on his own path. I guess I should just be brave and let them go, and make space for new books. I think I just need to do it. If you've made it this far in reading this post, well done and thank you for allowing me this brain dump. And if you're after a statistics text book by any chance, do let me know. Seriously.