HOARDERS
One of my favorite authors, Julie Cameron says “God is shorthand for good, orderly direction.”
Do you know a hoarder? I have come to believe that we all have the potential to hoard. Some hoard stuff that is readily visible – living with so much stuff that their quality of life is compromised. They are unable to part with stuff and may live in deplorable and unsafe conditions. You might be thinking, “that’s certainly not me.” Read on.
We all have the potential to hoard things not readily visible. Some will brood about their problems. The rational part of the individual says, “let it go.” The irrational part responds, “I know I should, but I can’t.” Sometimes the problem is released and before the trash can of the mind can be dumped, it is retrieved. That problem joins the other new or retrieved problems – and without an intervention, one becomes a hoarder of problems, a worrier… just as problematic as hoarding stuff but less visible. Invisible that is, until the worry hoarder slips up or becomes physically challenged by worry and others get a peek at the real person. Others may hoard pain and misery, keeping records of wrongs experienced at the hands of others. This hoarder may say “all is forgiven,” but their life suggests otherwise. Hoarders of money live in fear that they will not have enough to last until? They become so consumed with protecting the assets thought to be necessary for their preservation that they are robbed of that which they are so desperate to preserve.
Hoarding Disorder can be described as a persistent difficulty with discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them, I border on being a hoarder of fabric, dishes, and clothes. Am I alone? As I reflect further on the question raised, I realize that the truth is, I am a hoarder. Ouch!
If you find it stressful or become anxious when attempting to throw or give away something fearing the future without them, you might be teetering on the hoarding line. Just something to think about.
Shooing it… scowling at it … ignoring it … didn’t work well around my challenge. In fact, they may have functioned as fertilizer. Disguising my attachment to the stuff behind a façade of denial prolonged the agony. Honesty became my best course of action. I found the wherewithal to pivot. I can only wear so many clothes, there are not enough hours in the day to do all the things that I wanted to do and sew too, and I am never going to serve fifty people at one time on real dishes. That’s the truth.
For me this is “good, orderly, direction:” no fabric purchased since last year in June neither have I sown anything substantial, no dishes purchased, nor have I given any away. However, I just delivered clothing and shoes to an organization where there is the potential that the stuff will bless others.
Paint, brushes and canvases are now threatening, leading me to believe it may not be a specific thing that is a problem, but the tendency to acquire, to keep and be stressed by the thought of getting rid of it.
Letting go of things, pains, problems, or other hoarded behavior is a process. I still love fabric, dishes, and clothes. I will not bring any more fabric or dishes into this house until some has been used or broken. I will gladly accept them as gifts.
PONDER THIS THOUGHT—Hoarding is a form of constipation – hurting only the hoarder.
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