Posting Letters

As Misty had gotten older and material items have become of less value to her she started to declutter all the boxes where she’d kept unnecessary bric-a-brac. There were documents, old love letters, trinkets, seashells, bus passes and brochures from trips she’d randomly collected in Europe, playbills from London in the 70’s and many other obscure items that no longer held her interest. She had been recommended a fantastic book to read on minimalizing and had also seen a wonderful documentary on decluttering which inspired her to apply these methods into her own life. She decided it was time to make the difference.

Misty found the process very cathartic and somehow it made her feel much lighter as she ripped up various pieces of paper and threw away bits and pieces she had just hoarded over the years.

At the same time she scanned all her meaningful photographs and documents into a digital format and also decided to do a digital detox which took up quite a bit of time and when she was finished the first thing that crossed her mind was ‘reset your password’ which she didn’t realise would become meaningful in another way in her next task.

During her teenage years she had attended a self management course of which she retained very little knowledge except a fascinating challenge that was proposed to her group. They were assigned to sending ones self a handwritten letter, sealed in an envelope starting as in her case, “Dear Misty” followed by content and signed off “Love Misty” walking into a post office, buying a stamp and posting the letter.

This suggestion made her feel curious and slightly silly but once she had sat down in a quiet corner of the room and allowed the flow of words it was exhilarating. Her imagination came to life. So much so, that for many years to come, as she travelled extensively in her career, she would always rush to find the stationary that was placed in the folder of welcome in all hotels and guesthouses she stayed in over time. She would religiously spend an evening of her stay writing a letter to herself to capture her exact state of mind at the time. She diligently posted these letters to herself over the years and made a promise to herself that she would never open the letters until much time had passed and she wanted to recall her memories.

30 years later the opportunity arose at the same time her decision to declutter unfolded. Had she grown? Followed her dreams? Taken chances?Was she happy?. She nervously started opening the letters one by one.

Most of the letters she had written to herself were bits of poetry, sometimes venting frustrations, memories of times spent but always ended with three words boldly written where she had signed off that read - get a life! She thought to herself that in this day and age would probably translate to - reset your password. She spent the rest of the days putting the words she had read into her internal box of memories.

Years pass so silently and so quickly. The word reset has become an interesting concept. It’s healthy for the mind to reset as we are engulfed in technology and knowledge. Misty felt sad that simplicity had faded from her life.

Without thinking of computer passwords which are often outrageous and needed to protect our privacy she realised that we also have internal human passwords that allow others to gain access to ourselves.

One always thinks of computers when we see the word password. Perhaps people are made up of personal passwords too.

When we meet someone new, a person of interest they too earn a kind of unspoken password to allow access to our inner thoughts and in a way we spend time trying to figure out their passwords to gain trust and closeness into their thoughts.

We unconsciously store thousands of passwords in our own journey through life.

Think about it, if you have shared a password with a significant other and the relationship ends, the first thing we do is reset our passwords. If we get creepy warnings from google saying someone might have accessed our account we reset our passwords.

Lives are made up of a series of cycles that bring opportunities for reinvention. Misty was ready to reopen that door so she sat down and wrote herself a letter to read when she turned 70. She even made her own envelope, drove down to the post office, bought a stamp and posted it to herself. She would add it to her small box of sentimental bits and pieces that were left after the decluttering.

Misty realised her mind was still creative and curious. She had a strong sense that she had in fact grown but there were still so many parts of her that needed nourishment, that craved daydreams and expression. Misty took her first new years resolution and she reset her password. Get a life crossed here mind and she smiled.