I have been asking everyone I know who loves to study whether they hoard their notes!
Almost everyone finds it hard to discard them.. Almost everyone never looks at them.
Only one person expressed any regret at getting rid of them. He said that when he occasionally feels nostalgic for his student days it would have been nice to flick through them. I should have asked how often this happens..
Several people started digitalising them. Nobody finished that task. Mostly through boredom.
Most intended to go over them again 'one day'. perhaps following up the bits they were interested in but didn't have time to explore more fully while they were studying. 'one day' never came.
Most acknowledged that they had moved them from house to house and that they took up a lot of room, and were very heavy.
Most agreed they were out of date and no longer of any use to anyone else.
Dealing with them in several stages was most common.
Keeping just a few of the best essays or drawings/plans is, in common with others, what I will do.
They represent so much work and effort, and hold some memories of disappointment and opportunities lost as well as of achievement. One friend said 'i loved to look at how much I knew' (note the past tense!). Another, re-reading her essays many years after they were written said she was astonished at how pompous they were! My sister reading through some of her work was really impressed 'I wrote that?'
Everyone kept the certificates, rarely framed and on the wall.
The remark that finally made me feel I could part with most of mine was 'You are creative. You created all of these. If in the unlikely event you wanted or needed to - you could do it again.'
True.
A lot more lightness, space and good energy achieved. I hereby award myself full marks, a gold star, first class honours!