Sometimes "Hoarding" Isn't Just About Physical Stuff!
Chances are that you have come across the term "hoarder" at one time or another. Maybe you've even seen one of those TV shows where somebody lives in a house that has so much stuff in it that you can barely make it from one room to another. Maybe that term could even be applied to some you know well.
We know what it is to hoard objects, because it's very obvious and the problem is out in the open for everybody to see.
Back when I still lived in Texas there was a "hoarder house" down the road from where I lived, and aside from the fact that there were all kinds of broken appliances sitting in and outside the garage - which had a door that wouldn't close - the place just had that feel of being overstuffed with every conceivable thing you could imagine.
Why is the local code compliance office was never called on the particular people who lived there remains a mystery to me, and to most of the neighborhood.
But that's not really what I wanted to talk about today.
Hoarding... in the Mind...
What happens when hoarding is something that largely happens in your brain space, or in the realm of ideas and plans? What happens when the "hoarding" doesn't involve anything tangible you can throw away to make things better?
We might even call it emotional hoarding or psychological hoarding.
In my own case, that's one of the interpretations I'm more worried about. After all, I have hundreds of interesting and potentially feasible ideas written down on pieces of paper and in files on my computer that I hang on to because one day I might get around to them, but when examined in the harsh light of reality I also know perfectly well that I have no chance of getting to even 20% of them in my remaining lifetime!
Depending on your perspective you could either claim that I have a hoarding problem when it comes to ideas, or perhaps I am addicted to having an excessive number of "plan B's" in my life! In fact, there have been times over the years where it felt like my entire life was a plan B.
Where is this may sound a bit funny and strange, it actually has the potential to be a serious problem because you can easily become overwhelmed by how much stuff you have inside your head, and it prevents you from focusing on the most important things at hand. In short, you get lost in the process of evaluating possibilities rather than taking actual steps forward.
I've been told in the past that having lots of contingency plans in your life can actually be an indication of some kind of past trauma that you haven't worked through. Not entirely sure about that... although it "feels right" on some level.
Sometimes, though, I do find myself wishing that I could just "empty my head" of some of the many ideas and plans swirling around in my head.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about you? Are you familiar with hoarding? Are there any hoarders among your friends and family? Do you think it's possibly to be a hoarder of IDEAS; i.e. a psychological hoarder? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
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Created at 2023-08-10 01:02 PDT
0914/2169
I used to be a hoarder but not anymore. Well, it is sometimes good to hoard somethings because wasting things may not be good as well but imagine hoarding things that will spoil soon. That doesn't make sense.
There has to be limit to hoarding things...
Lol. I have hundreds of ideas that will likely never go anywhere sitting right here on this very computer. Sometimes I go through them and delete a few, either because I don't think they're very good ideas after revisiting them, or because I didn't articulate the idea well enough to even figure out what it was that I'd been thinking when I wrote it down.
But I like the feeling of having something to delete. And maybe one or two of those ideas will turn into something at some point.