Words

I have just spent the last week trawling through, deleting and filing 7,800 personal emails from the last 9 years. Given my borderline OCD, I have no idea why it hadn't occurred to me until now but that isn't relevant to this particular diatribe. 

I have felt nostalgic, cringed a LOT and most poignantly - realised that we remember things just how we want or have the capacity to. Reading several of my emails from friends and colleagues (when I have wanted to evade the work IT system), I have re-lived relationships and eras of past that were incredibly significant to who I have become today. Words are so powerful because they are indelible. Through their presence, they capture a moment you can't pretend didn't happen and remind you of finite details of brilliant things that did. Our brains (I am no scientist, despite my lineage) have a saturation point and I assume we have an innate subconscious filing system that enables us to retain what we want/can, in order to make space for everything we juggle daily and all the new memories we are creating. 

I wouldn't consider myself a hoarder, but when it comes to words; I glut and I am quite happy with that. This email marathon has been a very fulfilling and enlightening exercise which I would recommend to you all .. although I am sure you've plenty on your 'to-do' list. Reading all those words from the last 8 years has reminded me of the sh*t, the magic and most importantly the friends that I have who I never manage to make time for any more. Social media and photos now have the market on your easily-viewed-personal-journey but for me; words are the ultimate conveyors of history.