PHOTOPHOBIA*
Like me, does everyone become as frozen as Michelangelo’s David whenever they think of all their photographs fading in plastic bags, on sticky non-archival album pages, and loose in various boxes, chests and drawers? Not to mention all those out-of-control digital photographs?
Recently I wrote a series of three articles for Home Goes Strong in which I encouraged readers to Take My Organizing Challenge, taking an hour each day for 5 days organizing this and that.
I gave dozens of organizing tips and I too took the Challenge. It now takes me only half as long to find a pair of socks.
The most rewarding part came when I returned a call to my daughter.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Home,” she answered.
“What are you doing home?” I asked. “You’re never home on a Saturday.”
“I’m taking The Organizing Challenge!” she exclaimed. Later that day she texted me a photo of her miraculously empty-ish desktop.
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My Photophobia (*dictionary meaning, I just learned, is extreme sensitivity to light) has become so intense that I hesitate each time I’m about to capture an image, knowing it will add to the digital heap. My prayer is that the Challenge will help get my photos in order; plus, I’ll end up with another series of articles. A two-fer.
Photos pose a much greater challenge than drawers and random piles of mail. I just timed myself at my expected speed of going through photos, not allowing extra minutes for reminiscing or decision-making.
Twelve photos took 30 seconds, which translates into my 3,000 pictures taking 20.83 1/3 hours, if I don’t dilly dally.
The thought of jumping from prints into my thousands of digital photos is so scary I might as well be attached to a bungee cord, jumping off Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Bridge.
Okay I didn’t mean to learn about all that can go wrong if you bungee jump, but I was looking on Wikipedia to find the above example and became morbidly curious about the risks:
- Harness fails.
- Elasticity is miscalculated and you suffer a fatal bump to the head.
- Cord not properly connected to the jump platform.
- Upper body intravascular pressure can lead to eyesight damage, the most common result.
- Whiplash.
- Broken neck.
- Stroke from getting tangled up in the cord.
- Increased stress (duh).
- Decreased immune function.
All these incidents involved young, healthy adults in their twenties and thirties.
Oh dear, I try not to be morbid. However, I have a number of readers in their twenties and thirties, and in my role of universal mother I aim to dissuade some or even one from ever taking the bungee plunge.
On the other hand, adrenaline junkies may be all the more inspired.
Have I ever told you how, after seeing the Imax film “Adrenaline Rush,” I realized so many of our choices are motivated by our personal level of adrenaline craving?
Oh my, I’ve strayed from Photophobia. But isn’t that what a phobic is supposed to do?
That said, I’m dying to get any and all advice from you on how to organize my photos, print and/or digital, including time-saving shortcuts.
More on Worrwart and stuff: Death by Chotchke
See also some of my Life Goes Strong posts:
*Organizing Your Affairs Before You Die: Advice From A 29-Year-Old Orphan
*Organize Your Home: Tips From Happiness Project’s Gretchen Rubin
*Packing List And Other Tips Before Trips
*6 Household Ideas From China Make Life Easier & More Pleasurable
*Use This Pre-Party Checklist To Be More Organized And Less Stressed
*50 Time-Saving Tips From Smart, Busy Women
AND (See how I can’t even limit the number of links?)
*Are You Having Less Sex Than You Think You Should? One Women’s Story
*Joyce Maynard Adopted Two Girls From Ethiopia Then Gave Them Up
*Should Couples Have Separate Bedrooms? Readers Responses May Surprise You
*Dating After My Husband Died: Widow With Cancer Moves On
*Family Vacation With My Ex & Daughters
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