Quote Originally Posted by freshstart View Post
They do weigh on you, I get that. I totally get getting rid photos taken during a bad time in your life or of an ex. But didn't you worry that you might want to see someday a very old pic of yourself or someone you loved who is gone?

Oh, my, I am a photo hoarder! A dog photo hoarder, I think it's not good when you have 10x the number of photos of your dogs than your children!

major props that you could do this even though it was so emotional, especially that you looked at them before trashing. I get the urge to just throw it all away before I ever look at each one and make a decision.
Did I worry that I'd lose a loved one and not have a pic of them? Initially, yes I did. This was especially true of my dogs, and in a certain way of my former life partner as well. Here is how I dealt with both concerns:

Why worry about taking, keeping, storing, curating, etc. pics of my dog (and other loved ones, I suppose... haha) when I could be using that time to take Harlan to the park, play fetch with him in the yard, or just hang out with him? I want to be present in the moment when I take Harlan on a walk. I'll remember him after he passes away, and I will know that I was present in the moment -- really there, not fretting over getting a cute pic of him chasing a tennis ball. As for Lilith (the dog I lost in the divorce) I have full faith that my ex will take good care of her. And I have treasured memories of Lil -- like teaching her to leap over park benches (longways!) in a single bound! She was a small dog, about 20lbs. But what a jumper! I'll probably never see Lil again. That is a loss I simply have to accept, no pics of her would change that.

With my ex-wife I felt like holding on to some pics because there were about 6 years (out of the 11 that we were life partners) that were simply amazing! The little trips we took, the big trips we took, the fun parties we went to, the momentous occasions we shared, and so forth. But ultimately, I wanted to free myself of the mire of the the past (there were after all about 3 mediocre years and 2 really bad years of the 11 too). So getting rid of all those pics helped with that.

I think people can dwell in the past, obsess over the future, or be present in the moment. Obviously people oscillate between these in varying degrees. But as I approached middle age I wanted to stack the deck in favor of being present in the moment! Getting rid of all the pics was key to this, for me.