Hoarding Victim: I’ve Never Told Anyone Why I Try to be so Organized
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
This is a hard story, that only a few select people know. I guess I need to share it so that perhaps it can help some of you, and create a clearing for me. I’ve never told it online. Catharsis must need to occur for me to move on.
My Mom is a fantastic woman. When my Dad got fired in the Air Traffic Controller strike of 1981, she supported us for quite a long time while my Dad went to school, had a few jobs, and finally settled in at a place that he liked. For the stress that she endured during that time and the years after, it took its toll and my Mom has had one large stroke and several smaller strokes and is unable to walk without assistance and cannot be left alone for long periods of time.
Mom’s life was born into stress. She was born in 1929, the year that the Great Depression started. She lived in destitute poverty most of her life. She’s told me stories about living on 10 cents a day.
As typical in many people that lived through the depression, she has a compulsive disorder called hoarding. Mom keeps things that don’t make sense, and will buy more even when she knows she has more than enough to last. All my childhood, when I was old enough to realize it, I tried to keep her demons at bay. I kept the house as organized as I possibly could. I threw things away when she didn’t know and didn’t allow her to buy things when she had them (or I tried). As a younger person, this was quite a feat, and I think it a big reason why I handle tough projects and can stay calm.
After I moved out, things have gotten progressively worse. I can’t really go into the details, but the demons I tried so hard to keep at bay are no longer gone.
When I lived on my own, I went through my phase of not being organized. I guess that I was tired from trying to do all I could to help Mom. Sooner rather than later I got my shit together, started keep my house right, and got on with life.
When we bought our house in January, I knew that I had to again make some big changes. I still had one of my Mom’s demons hanging around me, and that was my lack of organization with paperwork and having to find important papers. When I realize that I needed to change with the purchase of this house, GTD just fell in my lap and resonated with me. I investigated it, and through Stephen Smith’s Productivity in Context blog, it all clicked and fell into place.
We’ve heard from Cheryl and how she chose it, and now you know my story.
What’s yours?
You've read the series, now get the E-Book! Special EXTRA material not included in the blog series, plus three FREE templates!! Templates included are Time Management Matrix, Goal worksheet, and The Completion Journal. Only $24.99 for the book!
__________________________________________________________
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
