Clutter tends to take on a life of its own; whether in our kitchen, our closet, our home office, our garage or anywhere, our lives are unmanageable and uncontrolled. Physical, mental and emotional clutter will always keep you from living your best possible life. Think if you could stop the clutter in your home and in your head and begin again with solutions that are very simple and easy to maintain. Stop the chatter in your head that clutters your thinking and keeps you stuck. You are not alone. There are also some strategies to help break through the clutter. You can start to declutter life and get the peace of mind organization brings. To the extreme, clutter can be a symptom of an obsessive disorder. At the opposite end, there just isn't …show more content…
There may be low self-esteem involved. This may lead to the inability to make decisions. Some people have piles and piles of stuff. The panic overwhelms them at the thought of sorting through it all. While others just don't want to make the wrong decision. Many times, people have just plain old bad habits. Not having a place for everything. Not hanging a coat on a hook, for example. One organizational expert has clients put stuff they don't want to part with in a basket. After a week, they can keep whatever they remember is in the basket. To help with the guilt of throwing things away, you can give to charity. If they can't use it, they will throw it out for you - and you will never even know it! Regarding that box of clothes, one day I'll get a grip and let go of it. But I'll probably take a picture first. A picture takes up much less space and it's much, much smaller. If the job of organizing is overwhelming, then you need to break it down into smaller tasks. Just grouping like objects can give such a feeling of relief from the …show more content…
And make it easy. For example, instead of hanging your coat on a hanger, install hooks. You are much more likely to put a coat on a hook than a hanger. Make things as easy as possible for yourself. Following are the 3 questions you can ask your clutter, so that you can begin to move towards your own Clutter Breakthrough! 1. How are you serving me? This is the First question you can ask your clutter. Clutter can serve in various ways so ask your clutter why it is still there and how it is serving you. You may be surprised to find that it is a very nice excuse to keep people away; house is too messy to invite someone over, can't invite someone to dinner because you can't see the table. You may find that it keeps you from relaxing and enjoying a deep breath at the end of the day - who doesn't want to rest unless perhaps you think you don't deserve to. 2. Do I need you? Do you need me? This is the second question you can ask you clutter. Really, I mean really need you? When you ask this question there are a few things to consider. Remember that clutter holds energy, bad and good. If you are holding on to something and when you look at it or touch it you flash back to negative memories or pictures in your head - it's NOT serving you. It's keeping you tied to the
Just as you thought that was a clutter, squeezing in through the front room couldn’t possibly be the most awful experience of entering someone’s residence. Abruptly to your left, right and centre is perhaps more than your naked eye can absorb. Masses of boxes, piled possessions, shelves brimming with things you didn’t even know existed. It then hits you. You’re right in the middle of a hoarder’s house. You didn’t think setting foot inside a house was ever going to be this hard.
Then later in life, when they realize that they had all these opportunities and never took advantage of them, they regret it so much.
Hoarding may appear in a variety of forms, including Clinical Compulsive Hoarding, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or ‘perfectionist’ hoarding, and Animal Hoarding. Clinical Compulsive Hoarding proves to be the most common type (Defining Compulsive Hoarding). Similar to many other addictions, a compulsive hoarder’s addiction exists both figuratively and literally behind closed doors. Merriam-Webster defines a hoard as “a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away”, or alternatively, “a secret store of valuables or money” (“Hoard”). OCD hoarding is a term that is applicable to most forms of hoarding in the sense that the act itself is one out of both obsession and compulsion. The afflicted person may have either a variant of Obses...
Imagine that you are going to go over to your friend’s house to have dinner for the first time. You pull into their white picket fence lined driveway and realize their white house looks nice with their blue shutters and their bright red front door. As you smell their fresh flowers outside, you can only imagine how lovely the inside of their house looks like. You walk into the front door and are immediately greeted by a wall covered in antique doilies. You think that it’s odd but still continue to walk into their living, which is also covered in doilies. There aren’t just a few doilies here and there; the walls are covered top to bottom with doilies. What is that strange material on their couches? - Doilies! Small doilies, large doilies, rug doilies, and lamp shade covered doilies everywhere. What have you gotten yourself into? Your friend comes in and starts to tell you about her “collection”. You wonder how it could be a collection when it has taken over her whole house. At this point you think that she is more of a doilie hoarder rather than a collector. When is having a collection something more serious like being a hoarder? Why do people even start collecting things and what makes an object collectible? These are just some of the questions I will analyze in this paper.
One of the most widely spread disorders across the country these days is obsessive compulsive disorder, or otherwise known as OCD. All types and ages of people can develop OCD, and it can play a large role in how you go about your daily life, and the daily stresses that you run into. Obsessive compulsive disorder falls in with the category of anxiety disorders, and is characterized by persistent routines and obsessions which often results in compulsive rituals done on a daily basis. Some common factors of having OCD is the need to arrange things, compulsive acts of hand washing, and even counting. (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2014, p. 1) There are many symptoms that can fall into the category of being classified as OCD. Some people have both obsessions and compulsions, but also some may only experience one factor. (L.Robinson, 2014, p.2) Some symptoms that can be classified as signs of obsessive thoughts include: fear of germs, violent thoughts or images, fear of harm, superstitions, and symmetry. Although these are only just a few, there are plenty of symptoms most involving the action of being afraid of something. Some signs of compulsive behavior can result in excessive double checking of things, counting, repetition of words, organization of things, and even hoarding. I find it ironic that two people of a completely different mindset of what a home should look like, could both have the same disease. For instance, one person can be a hoarder living in a cluttered house, and one person could be living in the most pristinely cleaned home. Although OCD may seem harmless and in some cases even an advantage to one’s lifestyle of not becoming helpless and lazy, there are many risk factors that come with it as well. Obsessive ...
decisions they make later in life. For some, their destructive childhoods lead them down a wrong
My house and my things were my new employers for a job I had never applied for”. With too much materialism, your life will be unnecessary complicated and you will not get time to do your favorite things so therefore buying less you will have time to go out and enjoy, instead of being worried about things that needs to be done. I am not saying that you should isolate yourself from materials. Without materials, people will not have jobs for example, in the above quote lawns to mow, roommates.
People sometimes make careless and uninformed decisions. Most times, people feel rushed into making decisions without thinking it through completely. I feel the main issue is that they don’t define their problem or identify what they are trying to decide. People may also forget to look at all their choices when deciding. Not going through the decision making process, people can make careless and uninformed choices.
In order to do this we need to have responsibility for our possessions. They are ours, they have value, whether sentimental or monetary, and it is our job to take care of them. If we do not, then our hard earned money has gone to waste or our memories that were attached to it, are simply only alive in our minds. Having things to take care of helps us to have a sense of purpose in life, and teaches us responsibility to care for what is ours. Both important virtues that help us grow and discover ourselves when we have tangible objects that belong to and are cared for by
Compulsive hoarding has been universally defined by researchers as a chronic behavioral syndrome that is categorized by three unique qualities: the extreme retention and failure to dispose of an abundant quantity of useless objects, living environments so condensed with clutter that it compromises day-to-day living for its occupants, and finally a significant provocation of anxiety or distress caused by the hoarding (Franks et al. 79). Although the definition of compulsive hoarding is universally accepted, the cau...
A clean home is something that should come easy for anyone. Most people would consider anyone with a dirty and cluttered home to be lazy or filthy, but many are unaware of the psychological disorder Hoarding, which affects about 5% of the population, both men and women (Neziroglu, n.d.). Hoarding is the act of one having difficulties separating from their belongings. Although many confuse hoarding with collecting, there is a significant difference from the two. Those who collect, gather a specific product as a hobby or a profession, but those with a Hoarding disorder keep items without a notable worth and it accumulates in areas that were previously used for living. It is believed that hoarding is caused by a deficiency with a person’s information processing or led by a cognitive disorder, or a disturbing emotional shock (“The Hoarding Project”, 2016
I know that who I am now is who will create the future of my life. Therefore, I take the time every day to check in with myself to see how I'm feeling about myself, where I am in my life and if I'm liking where I am. That is not something I could do if I was constantly looking to acquire more "stuff" in my external life. Every few months I go through my apartment and I donate things that I no longer have any use for, things that I don't use or things that does not create a good energy in my space. I'm always seeking ways to de-clutter and simplify my living so that I can better hear the internal messages of my
Why can’t they just leave the place how they first found it? It’s like if they don’t realize someone else has to pick up after them. This is why we can’t have nice stuff. If everyone just picked up after themselves, everyone could have a good time and could look much better.
Hoarding is a mental illness which leads its victims to live in squalor. Hoarding is a form of obsessive compulsive disorder. This is commonly referred to as OCD. OCD is a mental illness that causes obsessions which lead to repetitive behavior. In contrast, minimalism is based on not having a multitude of things. Minimalism promotes a clear mind. This tool is based on reducing things that cause stress. Theoretically, less stress puts an ease on the mind. The tool of minimalism is also used to gain better awareness. Through awareness comes a better understanding of situations. As a minimalist, having less stuff can lead to being more focused on the important things. Things such as relationships, health, dreams and passions. Minimalists only own things that add value to their
Take baby steps: Someone who has a problem with hoarding is not going to resolve their problem overnight. It is going to take time, and you need to take small steps so you don’t overwhelm yourself, become stressed and begin to hoard again. You want to continue to solve your problem, not recreate it.