hoarding
I've started watching the A&E show Hoarders on Monday nights. My daughter stood riveted in the room for about five minutes before going upstairs, agitated, because she couldn't stand it anymore. And then she came down twice with huge arm loads of paper clutter from her room - old school work and fashion magazines.
I think what set her off last night was that the homes on the episode weren't that bad. They weren't places where the crew uncovers long dead cats, for instance. And I think she could see that there was definitely a continuum from here to there... that's it's not just messiness I struggle with, but hoarding behaviour.
The stories are a little too familiar; family histories with divorce, depression, alcoholism; emotional attachment to things because of grief, collecting things with potential, and then drowning in them. Accoutrements for hobbies that aren't used. And I hear some of my inner dialogue on the show "This could be useful" or "It belonged to my grandmother" or "I keep meaning to sort through that pile".
unclutter_2010
I think what set her off last night was that the homes on the episode weren't that bad. They weren't places where the crew uncovers long dead cats, for instance. And I think she could see that there was definitely a continuum from here to there... that's it's not just messiness I struggle with, but hoarding behaviour.
The stories are a little too familiar; family histories with divorce, depression, alcoholism; emotional attachment to things because of grief, collecting things with potential, and then drowning in them. Accoutrements for hobbies that aren't used. And I hear some of my inner dialogue on the show "This could be useful" or "It belonged to my grandmother" or "I keep meaning to sort through that pile".
unclutter_2010