Thoughts on old cards, photos, etc.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2003
Thoughts on old cards, photos, etc.
6
Fri, 06-10-2005 - 12:48pm

Hey everyone - just wondering what your thoughts are on keeping cards, photos, letters, etc. from exes? Is it best just to trash EVERYTHING in order to move on? I think I am guilty of living in the past too much. I wonder if I were to trash everything if it would help to free my heart to move on. What do you all think??

Thanks in advance and hope everyone is doing ok!

Jamie

Avatar for northwestwanderer
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 06-10-2005 - 1:07pm

I enjoy looking at mementos from my past down the road once I've gotten over my exes, so what I generally do is box things up and put them away and I don't look at them until I am over him.

Sheri

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-10-2005
Fri, 06-10-2005 - 9:17pm
My boyfriend and I just broke up after three years of dating. i put everything that reminded me of him in a box and duct taped it closed over and over until it was almost fully covered. Now I know I won't be able to look at them whenever i feel like it, but i still have them for when i get over him and want to look at them with children and stuff. i hope you feel better.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2003
Fri, 06-10-2005 - 9:31pm

It depends on your own personal nature, and how far along in the 'over' stage you are.

With one former boyfriend, I realized the longer I held on to receipts from nights out, emails, cards, dried flowers and all the other things I had been collecting, the longer I was still holding on to the relationship, long after it ended - probly one of the reasons why I was having a bit of a struggle to truly let go.

Hard though it was to do, I got rid of everything, expect photos. Those I put in a sealed bag, and at the very back of my storeage closest, and haven't see or thought of them in years.

As a friend once told me, the more tangible reminders of an ex you have, the more there is holding you back from finding the person you should be with - a new partner!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-10-2005
Fri, 06-10-2005 - 11:10pm

personally, i think it's best to get rid of the ex stuff. you have the memories. holding on the past is something i think that holds us back when we're looking to the future.

good luck!

Avatar for lisa19722001
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-02-2005
Mon, 07-04-2005 - 12:41pm

Hello,

In the past I have thrown away things from relationships but I find years later that I wished I had kept them just for memory sake. The guy(s) may have been real jerks but it was a part of my past. My thoughts are to keep them but put them some place out of the way. Who knows, years from now you may want to look at your past with "what's his face?" and laugh

~Lisa L

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-03-2005
Mon, 07-04-2005 - 6:24pm
Trash it all. Give away stuff. It feels good if someone else can use it (if it applies). Once you get rid of the stuff, treat yourself to something. A shopping trip to pick up new picture frames, posters, anything that'd make your surroundings comfortable. Trust me, it works. -Steph