Treasure Hunter or Hoarder?

Finished!

by Skip Cohen
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Regarding my topics in Sunday Morning Reflections, I always run amuck from business and marketing. Today's a perfect example, as I describe yesterday.

I have a closet in my office that's floor-to-ceiling storage. While it's not a big closet, I had stored years of gear, tradeshow swag, discs, cables, computer gear, notebooks, papers to be filed, and the list goes on and on and on...

When I took out the second full bag of trash, Sheila joined me. I'm unsure if she really wanted to help, or it was the entertainment value of watching her husband stress over the lifeboat drill of what I wanted to save versus let sink with the Titanic!

As I sorted through the treasure, all I could think about was my buddy Bob T. His wife, Cindy, used to make cleaning his office a requirement before he headed out on one of our scuba trips. We used to laugh about it on every dive trip.

So, now I'm left with the question of whether or not I'm a hoarder at heart and deserve to be on some reality trade show, seeing if Geraldo will come in with a camera crew to see the treasures behind Skip's closet door, or do I need counseling?

Here are a few of the great finds...

• I must have at least 100 badges from various tradeshows for me, Sheila, and even my Dad when I took him on HonorFlight.
• Goodwill is getting five of the seven trade show swag notebooks.
• How many organizational backpacks does one need?
• USB cables - is there some reason every piece of electronic gear has to have a slightly different plug? 
• Baseball hats fall into the same category as notebooks and backpacks - I can only wear one at a time, but God forbid I should throw one away.

But the best find was the aromatherapy gear I bought years ago. I purchased two essential oils: one for "Focusing, Centering, Clarifying" and the other for "Energizing, Uplifting and Refreshing." The minute I found them, I had the diffuser cranked up. Cleaning out years of hoarding, I went with the need to focus and clarify. It was working - I was tossing things out left and right.

I took a break for a little while and forgot to shut it off. Within half an hour, the whole house smelled like a cross between a French whorehouse and a dumpster at Denny's. I thought about switching scents to uplifting and refreshing when Sheila had a better suggestion - "Shut the damn thing off!"

Everyone has a closet, desk, or kitchen drawer where they stash memories. It's like a shoebox of old photographs. The cleanup was a kick to do and brought back memory after memory, but it's never-ending. There are eight drawers/baskets that are filled with more junk. There's no telling what I might find, like another WPPI lapel pin from 1997. Who knows when I might need a couple of blank cassette tapes, floppy discs, or a fax machine (used twice over the last ten years)?

Here's my point, while we're still in the "slow season," take the time to clean out a drawer or closet. If you're like me, it will be a kick. It'll also be an incredibly slow process as each memory-making-what-the-hell-do-I-do-with-this treasure sees the light of day.

Wishing everybody a weekend filled with discovering buried treasure you forgot about years ago. Like Throwback Thursday photographs, everything you save has a heartbeat. You don't need to let go of the memories, just the clutter.

Knowing that you can find anything on the Internet, I searched for a great quote about closets...

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May your heart and your closet be full.
Anonymous

Happy Sunday or Monday if you're on the other side of the world!