We have all done it. We have all held onto things long after their expiration date.
My weakness is books and magazines. I think some of the most difficult magazines for me to let go of were O magazines (ironic for me since the first TV program on hoarding that I saw was on Oprah). There is some alluring quality about magazines that are chock full of brilliant images and bright content, the glossy, satiny paper and the carnival of inky colored words! Be still, my heart. Before I knew what hit me, two years passed and 24 issues of O Magazines had piled up next to my book case in my home office. Rationally, I knew they needed to go, that I was never going to look at those back issues and the clutter was seriously getting on my nerves. I gathered my O mags and my courage and took them to work and left them on the break room table. What was left at the end of the day went to the recycling bin with a little piece of my heart.
Bookcase With Storage Bins
Just this past summer, I finally parted with a very large collection of LIFE magazines from the 1960s. I inherited them from my now deceased husband. They had been stored in my basement for decades. When I sold the house about five years ago, I moved every last one of them to a storage building I own, where they collected dust for five more years.
The LIFE magazine collection was ripe with potential for one reason why people become what has now become known famously as hoarders. This collection had deep sentimental value to me because they belonged to my husband when he was alive. It was somehow comforting to have his things around me and it felt almost sacrilegious to discard things that he had spent his life collecting.
Sentimentality is one of the leading rationalizations of hoarding behavior. It is a feeling we can all understand, but rationally, we know we cannot hold on to everything that once belonged to a deceased loved one. Those with a tendency to hoard get into trouble when this line becomes blurred and they just can't let go of most of the thingsleft behind after a death.
The proclivity to hoard is deep within a person and skews an otherwise rational person's ability to separate people and things. This confusion is not limited to lost loved ones, but to the way hoarders views their worth. Many times the need to acquire things offers a certain level of validation.
There is a projection of self-worth onto things such as the kind of house we live in or the kind of car we drive, even our wardrobe and the food we eat. We not only judge a book by its cover, we judge ourselves and everyone else by the cover of things, nicely called assets. Clearly, buying a nice home that we can afford is not a hoarding issue, although it is arguable that it is one of personal identity. For the hoarder, the more stuff they acquire, the more comforted they feel. Unlike love and friendship, things are tangible and serve to fill a hurting heart.
Another theory is that hoarding is somehow a search for significance. Under the guise of a 'collection,' the acquisition of things offers a borrowed significance. But, just because the 'collection' holds some sort of significance, the significance does not actually transfer to the collector. Significance is not something one can collect or stock pile.
Unfortunately, what we see on television as a curiosity at best and voyeurism at worst is a sad extreme of a quiet obsession inside most of us. That is why we watch. Like the car wreck as we drive past it, that could be us if our circumstances were different.
A hollow heart is a sad thing, and how we try to fill it externally quickly becomes a slippery slope of self-sabotaging behaviors. Hoarding calories that we do not need to survive is no different than hoarding stuff that has no useful purpose and complicates life. The parallels are endless.
There is only one way to validate ourselves and fill our hearts and that is through an internal relationship with our spiritual selves. We are free in this country to define that for ourselves. The answers lie within each of us and there is never a need to hoard the love of the universe because there is a never ending abundance of love in the world.
Will there ever be a popular reality show about that?
Special Price!!! Honey-Can-Do SRT-01603 Kids Toy Organizer and Storage Bins, White/Pastel
Oct 20, 2011 13:12:34
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Honey-Can-Do SRT-01603 Kids Toy Organizer and Storage Bins, White/Pastel Feature
- Removable containers make for quick clean up
- Surfaces are durable and stain resistant
- Rounded safety corners
- Made of thick plastic
- Helps develop organization skills
Honey-Can-Do SRT-01603 Kids Toy Organizer and Storage Bins, White/Pastel Overview
This Kids Toy Organizer w/ 12 Pastel Colored Storage Bins - Honey Can Do #SRT-01603 helps keep any space organized and tidy - especially great for your kids. This 12 bin organize has a durable wood frame that stands of up to years of use and houses 12 pastel, plastic bins that can be configured to your needs. The high quality plastic bins rest at slant, on matching metal dowels. The 4-large and 8-medium bins come in combination of pink, purple, green and yellow. Each shelf will hold 2-large, 4-medium or 2-large, 2 medium so you can organize the unit to your needs. The bins are easily removed from the shelves.Although perfect for kids toy storage, this handy 12 Bin Organizer has many other uses. Easy access to kids clothing, crafts, scarves & mittens; and much more. Just use your imagination. (This item also comes in primary colors)
Honey Can Do is your source for stylish home organization and storage products.And with stringent quality control methods, Honey-Can-Do confidently offers a limited lifetime warranty on every product they make. Peace of Mind!
Size: 36H x 33.25Wx 12.5D Inches -- Color: White and Pastel Colors
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