From memories to little daily sparkles #ClearFilesAndMe

This is from the Monet exhibition in February, and this one is from the DIC Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art.
The one in the middle is from the first Stationery Girls' Expo I ever attended, and the one next to it is from the Nintendo Shop, which I worked hard to get to in Shibuya with my partner.

By the time I became an adult, what I bought when I went somewhere had changed from pencil boards to clear files.
To others, they might just be clear files.

But for me, and for Hiiro-san as well, clear files have become more than just objects.

Come to think of it, I feel like the reason I started interacting with Hiiro-san was because of a comment on a note about clear files.
With Hiiro-san's recent note about clear files, I found myself thinking about clear files once again.

▽Hiiro-san's recent note▽

1. At first, it was just a souvenir

I have always had a habit of collecting things, so whenever I went somewhere, I basically made clear files my souvenir to myself.

Of course, even though I have a collecting habit, I can't collect every single clear file, and I don't try to complete the whole set of designs when I'm traveling.

I would buy a clear file with a design I liked, and it served more as a way to reinforce my travel memories, thinking, 'Ah, I bought this when I went there, and such and such happened then.'
It's similar to travel photos.

2. Storing memories

It's a waste to just keep them.
There was a moment when I suddenly thought that.

That was when I touched a clear file from content that I absolutely love.

I put my children's toys and my gadget manuals in the double file of Kamen Rider W, which I love.
I put Precure-related items in the Skull clear file.
*I also have a Precure file, but I wanted to keep that one.

In the Pokémon file, I keep cards I received from my children for birthdays and such. In the Monster Hunter file, I keep things from when I went to Monster Hunter events.

Every single file contains something I am truly attached to.
It was truly a way to store memories.

3. Sparking excitement in daily use

Even so, the number of clear files keeps growing.
They are affordable, and there are many with designs I like.

Recently, there are A5 sizes, ones with dividers, and ones that make use of clear designs, so instead of 'buying them just because,' I am buying them seriously based on their functionality and purpose.

There was a moment when it hit me: 'It might be fun to go with that file for this occasion!'

When we were going on a family trip to Izu Oshima, the one I took out because I thought it was perfect was the Hokkaido-limited Snow Miku file from when we all went as a family to visit my parents.

To go to a pottery exhibition themed around birds, I chose a file related to the Abiko Bird Festival (I was torn between that and the one from the National Museum of Nature and Science's special 'Bird' exhibition).

After all, while I believe that as stationery, they should be used, I felt a bit of resistance to using them for everyday tasks without a specific reason.

However, when I thought, it would be fine if I used them to make my heart flutter, I naturally found myself reaching for them more often, just like choosing an outfit to wear for an important personal occasion, making them feel a little bit special.

Naturally, there are some among them that I keep and cherish forever, but I am incredibly happy that my options for how to use them have increased, and that these items, which brighten up little events in my daily life, have added color to my everyday life itself.

And that was also a process of continuing to refine my own sense of self and feeling the fulfillment of life, alongside my mental recovery after taking a leave of absence and returning to work.

With love for clear files.