Simplification
After yesterday’s post (literally, almost right after) I decided to open up one of those unopened boxes sitting in a corner of my bedroom. One of them contained the cases to all of my CDs; the discs themselves sit in a folder amidst my media shelf, but apparently I had never purged the cases.
Without a doubt this certainly falls into the category of, “Stupid packrat tendency.” And so I pulled the box into my living room and set about opening up each case to make sure there was no disc inside and then making a pile for disposal.
Halfway through I had a brainstorm. What if, instead of getting rid of the cases, I double-checked that the discs were all ripped into my iTunes and I then got rid of the CDs altogether?* I don’t listen to them very much, and the music I do listen to is all digital files, so why am I keeping any of it?
And so began a project at simplification, at purging the excess of my life in response to the undeniable fact that I’m not using it. It, in this case, is not just the ridiculous box of empty CD cases, but also the two folders of the discs that belong with the cases. Their best chance at being used are being integrated within my digital collection, and I have more than enough hard drive space to accommodate them — and can free up physical room space in the process.
The only expenditure? Time. And ripping all these discs is taking up a lot of it. I’m less than a quarter of the way through the discs and already I’ve put in about five hours, give or take the time interrupting myself for nostalgia about the various discs. (It’s very apparent I quit buying CDs around 2003…)
But in the end life will be simpler. I’ll have one less box. I’ll have two less folders on my shelf. I’ll have a more accurate portrayal of my media library. And above all, I’ll be more likely to actually use it all.
*I am planning on donating the used CDs to some community organization, not selling them. It’s still probably illegal to rip them and get rid of them without destroying them, but it just seems like a waste to trash them altogether. No money is exchanging hands, so record execs, leave me alone!
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Daniel Ross-Jones serves as Minister for Youth & Young Adults at First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, United Church of Christ. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area for a time still measured in months, he is frequently getting lost and discovering treasures of a landscape very different from his Upper Midwestern roots. Green Jello Hotdish is a blog exploring the intersections of his days. 
