I am the child of a book collector and a paper-hoarder, but because I moved around so much for a while (and now live in a small house) I didn't have much choice about getting rid of stuff or just not acquiring it in the first place. That certainly had advantages regarding making moving easier (again, not entirely by choice) and it is freeing at some level not to be bound to a mass of possessions, but it was also in many ways wrenching and unsettling. I don't think those experiences made me a better person. There are some things I now regret getting rid of, and I wish I had been in a position of stability such that it would have been all right to settle in and hold on to a little more.
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Bah, sure it does.
I am the child of a book collector and a paper-hoarder, but because I moved around so much for a while (and now live in a small house) I didn't have much choice about getting rid of stuff or just not acquiring it in the first place. That certainly had advantages regarding making moving easier (again, not entirely by choice) and it is freeing at some level not to be bound to a mass of possessions, but it was also in many ways wrenching and unsettling. I don't think those experiences made me a better person. There are some things I now regret getting rid of, and I wish I had been in a position of stability such that it would have been all right to settle in and hold on to a little more.