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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I’m always rooting around for ideas for my Home Goes Strong column. While rooting around unsuccessfully for a picture of Casey, I decided to lauch my Photo Organizing Challenge.

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.

Bungee Jumping, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada Stretched Canvas Poster Print, 18x24

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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