Let me get this straight: I LOVE books. I adore books. Books are my life and reading good books is one of the few reasons that make my life worth living.
That said, I came to a point in my life wherein I decided to dispose of my books, keeping only a handful of them. I did it mainly because I wanted to adopt the minimalist lifestyle and get rid of things that no longer give value to me. Don't get me wrong --- I loved my books, but 1) most of them were children's books and no longer appealed to me and 2) I've re-read them so many times over the years that I've memorised most of their stories.
So, I decided to pull them down from my shelves and sort them into three groups: the Must-Have books, the I-No-Longer-Want-to-Keep books and the Hmmm-Maybe-I-Still-Want-These-But-Would-Have-To-Think-About-It
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I set aside those that I wanted to give to my nieces and nephews and my best friend, which means the books that were left in the pile can now be put on sale. So I took pictures of them then headed over to olx.ph, where I made an account and created listings for my books.
I expected to wait for weeks or even months before I could make a sale, but whoa --- I received a text message from a buyer just a few hours after I posted my stuff! To make a long story short, I ended up delivering my books to six random strangers and selling the rest to colleagues and ex-colleagues (who heard about my spur-of-thee-moment book sale through Facebook).
My little adventure left me with several empty shelves --- and some realisations. I've listed them below:
Realisation #1: Selling is addictive.
My mom is a natural saleswoman. She loves talking to people and telling them about different products and convincing them to buy from her. I, on the other hand, am interested in sales as much as a dog is interested in learning how to play the violin. Which is why I didn't really get why Mom got so excited when she sold
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Remember that's it's not about money but rather about minimalism. Don't give in to the adrenaline rush that comes with “salesman's high”; if you want to remove clutter from your life, find a way to dispose of your stuff in a quick and efficient way.
Realisation #2: Your possessions do weigh you down.
“It’s a humbling experience to have to physically carry everything you own; only then can you truly feel how much your belongings weigh on you.” I read this sentence a few months ago when I stumbled upon this great article in MissMinimalist.com, but it didn't really mean much to me until I tried to lug around 20 pounds worth of books.
Okay, so I didn't really know exactly how heavy my books were because we don't have a weighing scale at home. But here's what I can say: I almost sprained my ankle and had an asthma attack while delivering books to buyers (I met one in IT Park, one in Elizabeth Mall, another in Starbucks Colon, another in Highway Mandaue and another in SM Cebu --- but not in the same day, of
“'Forget books,”' said Rosewater, throwing that particular book under his bed. The hell with 'em. That sounded like an interesting one, said Valencia.” -Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut In 1975, the “interesting” books for students of the Island Tree School District were nearly thrown under the bed forever.
My parents have always stressed the importance of reading. Throughout my whole life, they have motivated me to read and they have encouraged me to find books that I find interesting to read. Because of their encouragement, I am an avid reader today. When I was a child, just starting to enjoy reading I liked to read books that were fiction. Some of my favorite books to read as a child are series that I still love today and I think I still have every book in each series stored in my attic. They are The Boxcar Children, Junie B. Jones, and The Magic Tree House.
In this influential excerpt closing the first chapter of Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, stunned by the sudden flash of blinding light that entered into her building, is crushed by a case of books while going about her everyday work. This quotation is influential in that books are perceived to be harmless and sort of non-important to the average person like Miss Sasaki, while ending up nearly killing and putting her through a tremendous amount of pain. In the “atomic age” where this novels time period is based, books are only appreciated by certain people; otherwise they are portrayed as very miniscule parts of a person’s life.
I am positively in love with books. I love the feeling that I am having a conversation with the author. One of my favorite books, Looking for Alaska by John Green, generates that emotion every time I open it. Its ambiguous nature allows me to discover something new each time, like I am uncovering a new layer of a dear friend with every turn of the page.
Owning too many things in your life can not only drain and frustrate you, it can make it difficult to get things done. You find yourself collecting things for a couple of reasons, maybe you think you’ll need to use them later, you spent good money on them, or they have sentimental value so you feel you need to keep these items. The majority of people haven’t touched or used these things in weeks, months, or even years. Excessive things or clutter in your surroundings can have a negative impact on your ability to focus and process information. Once you've accumulated a certain amount of stuff, it starts to own you rather than the other way around. People often associate happiness with how many cars you have and how big your house is, but these
had bought several sets of books, so there was a lot of reading material their
There are two types of people in this world, the first ones are, the people who doesn't really like reading books because most of them doesn't have pictures on it, and they find it extremely boring. Then the other type of people, who simply gets lost into their book every time they read, because they just simply love reading. Some of them even say that when they're reading, it is taking them to a different world that only their imagination can create. That is why some people consider their books as their most priced possessions, because of how much it means to them and also some books can be rather pricey. Indeed, books can really be expensive, however, you might be too astonished when you see the following books, because they're considered
How would the world without books, in a world where we are controlled by technology. We might already be even more to the point where our kids are taken away from us and we don't mind. In a world where suicide becomes normal. Well this is the world of Clarisse Montag's wife. Montag is a fireman who literally burns houses for a living, in his society that's what a fireman does for a living instead of saving lives, he burned houses but only if the people who live there have books. People don't know what they have lost, and they don't realize it either.
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
My dad taught me that books could be my teachers, my mom taught me that our backyard could be my classroom, and my sister showed me that you could bring books into the swimming pool. I did not know it when I would spend hours in the pool reading a book that my parents weren’t encouraging it in vain, but my family life, for good reason, was centered on books. We were the planets orbiting around one sun that was the bookshelf. Little did I know that books would be the catalyst to academic success in my early life, and I owe it all to my family. Although a life with a book in your nose might seem boring, I was never bored. Living through the characters vicariously, I explored Narnia with Lucy, attended Hogwarts with Harry, and rode dragons with Eragon. Of course
Before I began to read heavier books, and had my old perspectives of books sliced, I was a relatively close minded reader. I rarely connected to books, and thought many books were foolish. I didn’t realize the deeper meaning behind books, and was not very insightful towards them.
While hoarding ranges from mild to severe, only the worst cases make it into the news. After viewing pictures of such homes, one wonders why no one intervened to throw a few things out. Where is the logic in keeping so many things that they start to overpower you and trap you inside your home? Hoarders however, lack the ability to simply throw away a possession. The motivation behind retaining such an encumbrance of items lies in the fear of wasting and losing important information. Hoarders attach emotional meanings to each item, giving it personal and special characteristics.
They all sold out immediately, were checked out from public libraries (quite often never to be returned) and were celebrated and widely discussed” (Durczak). Looking back, this was the beginning of bibliotherapy. People were running off to their rooms, closing their doors, and sitting down to sort through both their and their protagonist’s
Maybe, my sister and I inherited this live of reading from my father, or perhaps, our environment influenced us, but we were hooked onto books from a very early age. We would even take them to social gatherings, where we sure that we would get bored, and then just disappear into a quiet corner and spend the evening reading.
I also remember as young girl learning how to read and my favorite book that I could quote word for word was “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr.Suess. I loved that book so much I still have that today. As I got older my love for reading and books started to diminish, I went to a private school for my elementary years and their curriculum was very intense. It was required to read a book from their approved list and complete a book report each summer before the school year began. Not to mention the numerous books reports I would have to complete during the school. At an early age books and reading was something I had to do and not what I wanted to do.