recently i have been cleaning up in my life, first by cleaning and organizing a friend's garage, then another friend's garage, then slowly organizing and compacting my belongings for a move, and finally cleaning up my "digital garage." i needed to put some laptops and phones to good use, install LineageOS, GrapheneOS, TailsOS, Linux, etc. in order to continue my ascent into the private and sovereign digital realm.

purging data (like documents, messages, and photos) from old mobile devices and computers brings to light so many memories, such as past drama, past laughs, promises forgotten and not fulfilled, various feat of high-performance, insights into how far i have come and how far i have yet to go.

the purging and filtration is a proof-of-work of sorts, hashing out the value of the stored particulars. one must not get bogged down in the details, otherwise it leads to paralysis by analysis. i typically purge the data from my life every 4-5 years; not all of it, mostly the junk or the super unpleasant data.

i remember a purge that i have done once out of desperation and anger. most of that data i do not regret purging anyway, and probably never will. however, i remember thinking in that moment that perhaps i cud get rid of all my data, including the black-and-white photographs since my birth. luckily, that album was not in my possession, and my psychological crisis did not last very long.

so far, i am very happy about my systematic cleanup schedule. sometimes, these purges happen because i have no control (such as with immigration), and sometimes because i lose control... nonetheless, i have come to embrace these changes as imperative to my spiritual growth. i wish to keep the mind clean, ready to receive the next lessons.

how often do stackers do the house and digital clean-ups? have you discovered anything interesting?