thatsonlyme Posted October 6, 2010 Posted October 6, 2010 Just wondering. Personally, photos in general are the most important things in my life, out of all other material things. If my house was on fire and I had a choice to save only one thing that would be my photos. Today I have thousands of digital photos on my computer and it's all backed up on two external hard drives and dvd's. Most of those photos are from the last 5 years, years of my last relationship. Even though I still miss my ex and I'm not ready to watch those photos right now I would never delete them. All my photos are organized by year and date, not by girlfriends, so deleting them would would mean removing memories of my past, my life, not necessarily just the person who was on them. Just to prevent potential conflict with future partner, after break up I usually make a new folder with the same year in description but I include something that signifies new beginning and old photos get moved to my personal folder. However, tonight I used the opportunity to watch some photos from my past relationships for the first time in 5 years and it was nice to remember people, places and things I had done. Feelings are long gone but memories are worth remembering. I will probably feel the same watching photos of my current ex as the time goes by. The only downside was that watching those old photos made me realize that my latest relationship is now turning into nothing else but memories. That made me sad, because less than two months ago we were much more than that. It's a bad feeling that a person you still love decided to put you in a box of memories and stored you in the attic. In 5-10 years it will feel much better and I will be able to look back at my life and remember all the greatest moments.
Buccaneer55 Posted October 6, 2010 Posted October 6, 2010 I still have pictures of me and my ex on my computer and in my house. I just don't go and look at them on the computer and the ones in the house I've moved to a box. I'll never throw mine away, because it was still a time in my life when I was truly happy with her. Besides even if I threw them away, I'm still going to have all the memories so it's not like I'll just be able to forget.
SithLord Posted October 6, 2010 Posted October 6, 2010 Burn all those photos, no reason to remember a time that's in the past. Not even memory was sweet. Let it go dude.
durkadurka Posted October 6, 2010 Posted October 6, 2010 I still have pictures of me and my ex on my computer and in my house. I just don't go and look at them on the computer and the ones in the house I've moved to a box. I'll never throw mine away, because it was still a time in my life when I was truly happy with her. Besides even if I threw them away, I'm still going to have all the memories so it's not like I'll just be able to forget. Likewise, my stuff is in a box somewhere.
Sambo Posted October 7, 2010 Posted October 7, 2010 The secret to life is to learn your lessons and then never look backwards. Get rid of them.
Woggle Posted October 7, 2010 Posted October 7, 2010 I hqave a few in case people want to know what she looks like.
Trovador Posted October 7, 2010 Posted October 7, 2010 Nope. I feel keeping exes picts (and other stuff) is tantamount to dwelling in the past and reliving a past that, if it had been that great, she would be now in my present... Besides, getting rid of those memories was an important step not only in the confirmation that I really want to move on but also as an aid not to keep thinking and mourning my exes... About my last ex, specifically, I think she doesn´t deserve the honor...
Username37 Posted October 7, 2010 Posted October 7, 2010 I boxed my photos, but my father still has A LOT of pictures of her on his smugmug and on his laptop and hard drives.
Author thatsonlyme Posted October 7, 2010 Author Posted October 7, 2010 I guess we're all different. I don't see it as dwelling in the past, years from now it will be just a nice memory, feelings will be gone by then. If I deleted photos of all my exes I'd basically have no record of my own life whatsoever! In last 9 years I had 2 LTR's and most of my photos are from that period. Besides, none of my relationships was really that bad and I have no reason to hate my exes. I still have a lot to live and I don't think about past too much, but in 30-40 years it will be nice to look back at my life and know it was worth living.
2sure Posted October 7, 2010 Posted October 7, 2010 In general I keep them and then as time goes on and I move or go thru my stuff...I throw more and more away. Some I have one of, some none. More of those that include an ex with other people. If they arent taking up space in my head, they dont take up space in my closet.
Pianoguy Posted October 7, 2010 Posted October 7, 2010 It feels like a lose-lose situation with old photos like that. With the relationship I had four years ago, it would be nice to still have those photos and memories. I've been detached from her for a long, long time and would never have desire to contact her again, but it would be fun to see those memories as nothing but memories. On the other hand, if I'd kept those photos, I wouldn't have been able to heal. I thought I'd gotten rid of most of the things from my last relationship, which I'm still trying to get over. The other day, I found all of our photos still on my computer somewhere, and looking at all of those memories, I realized they are extremely precious and I can't bring myself to delete them. On the other hand, its making me want to contact her again, but I know that would be stupid. I'd say, box them up, put them somewhere out of reach, like a relative's house, and when enough time has passed, pick them up, look back, and reflect.
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