“Procrastination is fear.” I was listening to a podcast by Elizabeth Gilbert yesterday and this was her general theme. I immediately wondered if it applied to organising your photos.

In her podcast, Elizabeth was talking to a mum who wanted to write a book. So I bit different from organising photos, but it made me wonder… is there some fear behind the procrastination around organising our memories?

And what could that fear be?

I hear all the time from members in my group and from my students that their messy photo collections are one of the biggest stresses in their lives. But as well-meaning as we all are about DOING something about it, most of us procrastinate.

Why? Is there something besides the time that is holding us back?

Probably. And here are a few.

You worry that your memories are too painful.

I had one mum tell me that her memories were too painful, and while she wanted to save them, she couldn’t bring herself to go through them. If this is your situation, perhaps outsourcing this project makes sense.

There are definitely situations where painful memories of loss can make wading through photos too difficult. It’s much better to outsource all the organising and culling and have a professional hand you back a curated collection you can enjoy.

You worry that you might not have been in the moment and appreciated it enough when it happened.

Another mum told me that she really hated seeing how so much time had gone by when she looked back through her memories. She often wondered if she appreciated it enough.

From experience, if this is your fear, going back and looking through your memories will make you realise you appreciated those moments so much that you took a photo! What could signify their important more than documenting it?

You worry that looking back at memories might make you doubt yourself or bring up old insecurities.

Personally, I can relate to this one. For me, while the photos of my kids when they were little bring me so much joy, they also make me wonder if I was a good enough mum to these precious little ones that pop up in photos.

However, whenever I look back at old photos of them as toddlers, they are so happy! It makes me realise I must have been doing a good job. Plus the photos are so filled with love that even if I was making mistakes, they prove I was present, loving them, and documenting our time together. How could I think THAT mum wasn’t doing a good job?

You worry about experiencing that feeling of being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

If this is you and you hate that feeling of overwhelm and stress – and not knowing how to do something. You are not alone. For people who love things to be organised, this is a double-edge sword. You have to wade into the mess to get it organised BUT you hate wading into mess.

For you – a step by step actionable plan is the key.

In summary, are any of these a reason to NOT do something you deem so important?

Probably not. Because if we don’t do it, the risk of losing our memories is too catastrophic.

You just need a way to get around the fear, And what I know is that taking the smallest step forward will make a huge difference. I know from teaching this over the past year, that just finding all your photos makes this task seem possible. And that the joy of seeing old memories outweighs any pain they might bring.

So if you are ready to get started the next Memory Curator™ Workshop is starting soon and you can be in it. CLICK HERE to sign up. You won’t regret it.