My last year or so in Korea, before I moved back to the States, I spent an exorbitant amount of time in Korean cafes. In Korea, cafes are not simply places where you went to drink coffee or tea, but they were far more sophisticated and elaborate. They served a wide variety of food, beverages (including liquor), snacks, bakery goods and more. In addition to this, most cafes had themes. For example, one of my friends owned a cafe called “Cliffhanger” after the movie that had come out not too long before he opened his cafe. All of the cafe walls were climbing walls, should you decide to take a break from your drinks and food to do some climbing.
These cafes were filled with college students, who had accomplished one of the most difficult hurdles of life in Korea (see Day 9), getting into college. So as soon as Korean students entered college, they could relax and spend more leisurely time. All of the time they had missed out on until college studying, was made up for in college. Korean college campuses were saturated with these cafes.
Sometimes I grabbed more significant souvenirs (see Day 19), but what I made sure I grabbed from each cafe was matches. Every single cafe and eating/drinking establishment had their own customized matches, down to the color of the matches themselves. This was, of course, because most Korean college students smoked. At the time, I didn’t smoke, but matches were small and because of the care that went into designing them, they were beautiful keepsakes. I got to a point where I began writing down the date and people with whom I went to the cafe. I have 100s of matchbooks from this last year in Korea. All with meticulous documentation of the company I kept and the dates I hung out there.
I don’t know what was going through my mind when I did all of that. When I think about it now, it makes me smile, because it’s such a sentimental gesture. I’ve kept them precisely because they are somewhat of a journal of my last year in Korea. I never kept them because I ever felt I would use 100s of matchbooks. That never even occurred to me, in fact.
I actually forgot I had this bag of matchbooks until my mother sent them to me from Korea a couple of years ago. Yes, I guess I have things I left in Korea that I also have to let go of. Things I don’t even remember. Forgetting about things is a wonderful way to let go of them.
So on Day 326 of my 365 Release practice of non-attachment, letting go and change, I am letting go of something I at first held onto because of nostalgia, and then held onto because I forgot about them. As with yesterday’s release, I will distribute these matchbooks to many, so no single person accumulates as I have in the past.
[I created the 365 Release Project to practice non-attachment, letting go and change by giving away 1 thing a day for 1 year. The background, vision and guidelines to the 365 RELEASE project are here. The running list of everything I have released is here.]
Giving the matches a few at a time was such a mindful act. I haven’t read more than three or four of these, but I will stop and savor. Thank you so much.
hey angela! yes, i’m trying to be mindful each step of the way through this journey. thank you for reading!