We spent some time cleaning out some of the office cupboards and collecting books to donate to our local library. Cleaning out always assaults our sense of "future nostalgia" (that is the term Seth Godin uses in Linchpin). Future nostalgia is an attachment to a particular outcome which has not yet happened. When I clean out I think, "Hmm, but I haven't read that book yet," (the one which has been in the cupboard for 2 years) and "I've been meaning to do something with that."

Cleaning out gives us three choices,

1) Hold on to that book/item and the future nostalgia attached to it,
2) Do what we originally intended to, or
3) Let it go.

When something has been in the cupboard for too long I tend to let it go. I believe I made the choice about whether I was going to do something about it a while ago, back when it got packed in the cupboard instead of getting done. Some other actions were more important at the time. So the only thing I need to do when cleaning is let go of the future nostalgia.

Today we saw someone with the most unenviable job. A young girl was handing out promotional material….a "My 1st period starter pack." It certainly brought a smile to my face, although Donné wasn't too impressed when she asked if she had a daughter – as if she looks old enough to have a teenage daughter 😉