Hoarders, Collectors and Useless Junk

We as a society collect an excess of useless treasures and other junk. We are like the squirrels in this way; just as they collect too many acorns, we hold onto things we never use. Interestingly, squirrels do lose a great number of the acorns that they hide away in the autumn! The media and society's institutions encourage such reckless stashing. For example, the Home Shopping Network (HSN) and QVC, yard sales, discount stores and other sources of useless junk are always there to tempt those with this weakness. 

Many of us collect too much junk or hold onto it because we are fulfilling an emotional need. This is similar to unmet emotional needs that cause people to overeat or drink too much. For this reason, I hold onto old notebooks dating back 20 years, filled with useless trivia that I've copied from the Internet. Laziness is a co-conspirator in this attack of clutter and garbage. Depression or boredom can lead us to accumulate too much stuff, as can ADHD, as sufferers of the latter disease go from one unfinished project to another. Regaining self-discipline is the path to recovery and self-satisfaction.

Under the guise of practicality, many of us keep objects because we feel we'll need them someday. We don't want to have to quickly buy something when we're in a pinch, or to borrow items from friends. It is a primal urge that goes back to our distant human ancestors, the hunter-gatherers. These earliest human beings dealt dangerously with varying and unpredictable food supplies and furs for clothing, so a surplus of anything seemed like a windfall. Unfortunately, though, we are not evolutionarily adapted to our modern world of relative affluence. Human evolution, through natural selection, takes place very slowly over thousands of years.

Most of us junk collectors have only a minor flaw that doesn't cause too much stress. For some people, however, this desire to acquire things grows into full-fledged hoarding, which is a classic symptom of OCD (I am not a hoarder, however). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a genetically inherited lifelong disorder that can wreak havoc in that person's life. It is a defect in the brain's normal operation that causes the person to feel irrational urges to engage in a useless, self-destructive behavior that they find extremely unpleasant. They know that what they are doing (called compulsions) doesn't make sense, but they perform their compulsions (including hoarding) to chase away the equally unpleasant feelings that arise when they fail to do them. This disorder is highly treatable, but the therapy involved takes tremendous time and effort, after years or decades of intense, unrelenting suffering.

For hoarders who are afflicted most severely, every square inch of their homes may be filled with rubbish, including animal feces and urine, along with rotting food. The smell and extremely unsightly appearance of their homes isolates the hoarders from well-meaning friends and family, making the situation worse over time. In my life, I once knew a woman with a serious hoarding problem. Her entire van was filled with newspapers and rotting food, unsurprisingly causing her friends to avoid getting a ride from her. It was awful, as many of you are aware of from the show Hoarders.

The book Brain Lock by Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD explores the extreme and bizarre case of "Karen, a homemaker and former dental assistant in her early 50s. Karen was a hoarder whose problems began early in her marriage, when she and her husband would haunt yard sales. In time, every room in their house was crammed so full of junk that it was impossible to open the doors." She had rubbish in the bathtub and on the stove. "Only a narrow path was navigable through the living room, between trash bags and boxes stuffed to overflowing. With their sixteen cats and four dogs sometimes relieving themselves behind those piles of trash, the stench became gagging."

"Karen recalled, 'We were too embarrassed to invite anyone in.' There was no heat in the house because they were afraid that they would start a fire if they lit the pilot on the floor furnace. Appliances would break down, but Karen and her husband, Rob, couldn't get them fixed because they were terrified that a repairman might report them to the health department. They shuttered the bottoms of their windows and let the shrubs grow so no one could peek inside.' They had created their own hell, just as many with this disease create for themselves. Eventually they got psychological treatment, which enabled them to reclaim their lives and become socially active." Even ordinary people with minor stashes can take inspiration from this and lead happier, healthier lives.

Yes, even the average person collects too much junk and is too slow to get rid of their possessions, no matter how useless or trivial. Junk we don't get rid of includes batteries; remote controls; old video games; broken TVs; and cars and appliances that are not in working order. We are often lazy and simply adapt to our clutter, not realizing that it is still unhealthy, because it is aesthetically unpleasing and may affect our moods, making our lives more stressful.

Hobbyists are often guilty of this as their leisurely pursuits can turn into all-consuming obsessions. They may buy more supplies than they could ever use. When they complete a project, they don't want to throw anything out because they feel they will be able to use something on a future project. They are only fooling themselves! They need to force themselves to give up at least one object after completing a project. They will realistically come to the conclusion that they don't need to live with the excessive clutter. 

Many, if not most of us, have junked up garages, attics, basements and alcoves. A great many people can't use their garages because they are so filled with junk. We have all this valuable space wasted that could be put to much better use, such as actually parking our cars, storing heirlooms, watching TV or surfing the net. Another aspect of collecting involves bibliophiles like me. We have crumbly old books all over our homes or apartments that we will never peruse again. We nerds should discard such books!

Removing clutter and improving our lives is a decision, one that involves a significant degree of self-motivation. We must start by self-reflecting and making an honest assessment of our situation, while also looking inward to solve our emotional dilemmas. If necessary, we must have a heart-to-heart talk with a caring friend or family member. This will give us the needed kick in the pants to motivate us to clean out our homes, create a healthy physical environment and lead healthy, fun, meaningful lives.