We All Clean House in Different Ways…
Somewhat related to my previous post about having too much stuff… on a recent walk, I noticed someone used a local Little Free Library stands to set a bunch of graphic novels free into the universe.
I usually take a peek at the boxes when I pass by, just to see if there’s anything I’d like. I have seen some comics and graphic novels in there before, but never a full set like this being gotten rid of for obvious reasons.
I’m certain if I went back, they won’t be there, likely having gone into the hands of a fan or collector and that’s just fine. Books are one of the hardest things for me to get rid of, donate, or toss out–even when the book is physically falling apart. However, some books I’ve gotten as gifts have not proven difficult to leave out in a hallway or a box on the street with a big FREE sign attached to it.
More than anything, this encourages me to pack up a few books that have been lingering and put them in the local Little Free Library stands and then never worry about them again. Use the power of Somebody Else’s Problem to make it no longer mine, but in a way that doesn’t harm anyone. It’s not like dropping a bunch of books on a public library’s doorstep because that’s actual work for someone.
And as much as I try to check the weather and not plan to leave books in when it’s going to be gross outside, I need to let go of that feeling as one more excuse from doing it. If the books I no longer need are meant to continue in someone else’s hands, they will. Or they won’t. But as I have so many of these boxes around where I live, I’m confident they’ll find new eyes.
One way or another, this helps give me the permission I didn’t realize I needed to devote more energy to the process. If a likely dedicated fan can toss out five graphic novels, I can certainly get rid of that one sci-fi/fantasy paperback I probably haven’t touched since high school, right? 💖
Books are little worlds, friends of a kind, and reminders of where we were when we met. When I last moved, I donated a good dozen boxes of books. Some no longer reflected my beliefs, some were from writers I no longer enjoyed for one reason or another. A few brought me back to that moment in time when I first picked them up. I could see the moment, in memory.
Funny how something so small can unlock a world within yourself, that small and fragile bubble of memory when you handle it again. And sometimes, like that book, you get to choose to hold onto the memory or let it go, along with a small part of who you were back then. The books that made me a better man I kept. The books that no longer work for me, like the small parts of me from that time that likewise do not work, I let go. Maybe the books will serve to make others get to a better place, a small handhold on the up to a better self.