Do you know what’s sad?

For twenty years, I saved all my college course notes and textbooks. Two and a half college degrees: that’s a lot of paper.

Worse, I carted them around — and trust me, they weren’t light — on at least seven moves. Yet I never once looked at them.

They sat in our basement, covered in a thick layer of dust. If books and papers could wonder, they’d wonder why they were still under our stairs after all those years. What were my plans for them? When would the Big Day come?

Well, the Big Day eventually did arrive — only it was different than expected. My wife, always more accepting of change than I am, finally convinced me to recycle the entire mess.

The pain I experienced was also unexpected. I didn’t feel nostalgia, or suffer pangs for long-lost magical moments of my education. No, what hurt was to come across those terrible papers I’d written, reminders of poor study habits, immaturity, and an embarrassing lack of comprehension.

Good riddance indeed. I won’t have to lug those dusty, filthy things on our next move.

But what really happened was a purging of personal history.

Initially, I struggled with this. The truth is in the record — my books, my notes, and my papers were primary source materials, documenting an important time in my life. To trash them was to trash the truth.

What I’ve learned since taking this leap is that the lesson is more important than the truth.

I feel as if much of my real education has been a direct reaction toabout during my college years. The lessons aren’t in the documents — they’re now in me.

So I was glad to free myself of this physical burden. And the psychic one too: I don’t need to relive the painful moments, as the lessons have now sunk in.

You might want to consider doing something similar.

Not so long ago, a very smart person created a new holiday — Discardia! — to be celebrated four times a year. It’s a great idea, and every time I clear things out, I feel better physically and psychologically. Discardia’s slogan is “Let go of everything that doesn’t make your life awesome!”

What personal rubbish lurks under the stairs of your basement? Or in your mind?

Let it go. And make your life awesome.

你知道伤心的事情是什么吗？

在过去的20年里，我保留了我所有的大学科目的笔记和练习册。两个半的大学学位：这需要大量的资料。

更糟糕的是，我把它们塞在了纸箱里，相信我，它们从此不见天日。在7次搬家后，我就再也没见过它们了。

它们待在我的地下室，被厚厚的几层灰尘所覆盖，如果书籍和论文们懂得怀疑，它们肯定会问为什么这么多年他们仍然待在我们的楼梯下。我对它们有什么规划呢？什么时候它们的狂欢日才会到来呢？

嗯，出乎意料的是， 狂欢日最终是会到来的。因为我的妻子通常比我更善于改变，她让我相信是可以把这些乱七八糟的东西收拾好的。

但我经历的痛苦是我没有预料到的。我并没有太多怀旧情绪，也没有对我失去许久的，奇妙的读书时光感到痛苦。都没有，我发现所有的伤害都来自于那些我写过的糟糕的文章，那些糟糕的学习习惯，幼稚，于人于己难堪的回忆。

最大的好处就是，我的下一次搬家不用再带着这些又脏又多尘的东西了。

但什么才是一个人真正应该清理的过去的东西呢？

一开始，我也曾经有过挣扎。事实一早就被记录，在我的书中，我的笔记和我的主要的资料里面，记录了我生命中的重要时光。把他们扔掉就是扔掉了这些事实。

我觉得在大学时代我直接得到了很多知识，它们并不储存在那些文件夹里，而是在我的心里。

所以我为自己摆脱了这些外在的负担而且不用再重温一次沉没在课程的痛苦而感到庆幸。

你或许还会认为有些事非常的相似。

并不是很久之前，有一个很聪明的人发明了一个新的节日–Discardia-一年庆祝四次。这真的是太棒了，每一次我（都会在这个节日）清理掉一些东西，在之后，无论是生理还是心理上，我都会觉得更好。而Discadia 的口号是“放弃，使人生更精彩。”

你有多少一个人的垃圾隐藏在楼梯下的地下室里呢？或者是在你的心里？

让它走吧，让你的人生更精彩。