My Organizational Mind.

This might come as a shock to those who don't know me well, and be old news to those that do, but I struggle quite significantly with "perfectionism". I am avoiding terms like A-type personality or OCD, because the first is WAYYY over-used and the second is an actual disorder, of which I'm sure I don't quite reach that level...yet.

This "perfectionism" both energizes and paralyzes me on a day to day basis and nothing is immune to it. I care {too} passionately about every single aspect of my life. I am such an extremely visual person that this perfectionism affects things like the interior of my home, my photos, my and my children's wardrobe/closet situations the worst. And a HUGE contributing factor to the paralysis is my second most notable trait: commitment. I avoid terms like persistence, stubbornness, inflexibility... hoarder...because I don't think those are quite accurate ALL the time, just sometimes. If I decide on something, it's for LIFE. Done. Sports. Schools. Paint colors. Significant other. Career. Shoes. Don't ask me how many pairs of shoes I have, nor how old the oldest pair I still wear is. (Ok fine, I'll bite...2001. In my defense, they're New Balance and coming back in style. I'm about to pull out my Doc Martin's from '96).

Lately, I have been stuck in a major Photo rut. Totally paralyzed. I used to simply load my phone photos (which were about 1/10th the number I take today), my point and shoot photos and Matt's DSLR photos on one computer, in our family room/office, and go from there. Create blog entries. Albums. Store in an organized fashion in folders on the PC. Well, now my media amount is out of control. We have a Go-Pro to add to the mix over and above that I take at least a dozen photos daily. There's not enough storage space on the computers. It takes to long to gather from all the different sources. The computer/office is no longer located in a central area of the house. So now, for a year or two, I have been trying to formulate a solution to this problem. Instead of just throwing together a family album (to at least say I have one), I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about it. I cannot just put something together, it has to be perfect. I am still annoyed about my family album from 2014 because I forgot ONE photo. One, single family photo from Christmas day is not in there, and to this day I view it as an incomplete Album that I need to remake and possibly just throw away. I'm not saying it's right, it's just who I be.

Best I can gather, I have a few problems. The first being, I need to either A.) take fewer photos or B.) figure out how to be more selective and just immediately delete ones I don't need or won't use or I guess C.) get medicated. Seriously though, how many takes does one REALLY need of one single situation? My logical brain knows this is absurd, but my obsessive brain knows there is a chance that out of the depths of my ridiculously unpredictable and vivid visual memory, I will suddenly want a photo that I might have deleted. Gasp! This creates quite the predicament...I can't hit that delete button! For example, how do I pick from these 5 photos:

I posted one to Instagram that I felt, all things considered, encompassed the moment I was trying to capture, but all 5 together REALLY brings me back to this day. The feelings. The cuteness and absurdity. Dee with her finger to nose, and adorable outfit her Mimi purchased for her in Ireland. Mitch, on his sugar crash and Holiday exhaustion. Brock, bored. George and Curtis??? But, I can't have 5 photos from EVERY DAY and EVERY moment of our lives. I shouldn't even have one photo from everyday. It's too much. Not necessary. Overkill. And impossible to keep up with, store, organize and develop.

The second is that I need a system and storage location that is convenient, flexible, operational that also preserves photo quality. A lot of these online places compress the file, even iPhoto does it.

Third, I am often terrified to order any online product because I am sooo intensely disappointed with poor quality. I forgot to mention, but stationary, albums, and, well absolutely any paper products of any type are a source of one of my most intense idiosyncratic obsessions and loves. If I told you my birth announcement "budget", you might vomit (which is why I don't tell anyone...least of all, Matt.) I view them as art, ok!?

Therefore, I've decided, this is the year. I will find one place to store top quality photos from all my media. That I will exercise extreme self restraint and compile only photos I plan to use forever and always. That I will click that button and just print it, even if it is far less than perfect. And I will start from January 1 (well, 2) 2017 and though I hope to regain those lost years, will focus on the current one.

When I do finally figure out the perfect method to this social media, camera at our fingertips, digitally excessive media madness world...I will share it with you fellow A-type, OCD, perfectionists.