By: Vivian Pham, Staff Writer
It was a week prior to my dorm move-in. I was sitting on the floor, surrounded by moving boxes and my possessions scattered across the room. The process of sorting the things to bring for college and the things to donate was probably one of the most painful processes I’ve been through. Everything mattered, at least in my defense. I had no intention in giving away anything, even the decor I’ve been trying to hold onto since middle school. To me, each object linked to a memory or experience that I didn’t have the heart to throw away. So with that in mind, I threw everything that I wouldn’t bring with me to college into several boxes and stacked them up in my closet, ignoring my mom’s complaint and threats that she’d get rid of them sooner or later.
Last summer, I visited home for the first time since moving into my college dorm. As I opened the closet, a few boxes fell off the stack, instantly bringing me back to the previous fall. I quickly unpacked the boxes and thought to myself, “What on earth am I trying to hold onto?” All the little decors, the exam papers from high school, the notebooks, the friendship bracelet from someone I hadn’t seen for ages, etc. All the things that I once claimed as my prized possessions, suddenly turned into a junk of useless garbage. Maybe it was because I no longer feel connected to these objects, maybe because I’ve been constantly moving from place to place that I now only possess fewer and more useful things that I actually use daily, or maybe because of both reasons. I’m not sure.
If there’s only one thing that I learn from all of this, it would surely be the lesson of priority. When I moved into the dorm, my whole life was packed up in two 50lb-checked-bags, a carry-on suitcase, and a backpack. No more, no less. Life is just like these moving processes. There are so many things, so many events happen in the course of 24 hours, but there are only a few that will go with you for the rest of your life. I slowly learned, through these moving processes, what I need to do in a day that’s worth my effort and attention, who I should be caring for, and most importantly, which stuff I should keep or throw away.