Hurricane season began on June 1st. In the two times that our family has had to evacuate our home due to a hurricane threat, I was challenged to pack those items which were most valuable to me. That was not an easy choice for me, nor is it for most people.
Some clients of Bradenton Counseling Center have more than a few possessions in their homes that they value. They may have rooms of their house filled with boxes and other items that makes it impossible to use those rooms. There are often also attics, garages, sheds, and storage units filled with possessions. And clients may view all of their possessions as being equally valuable to them. Their possessions start to take over their lives, and yet, the thought of releasing or losing any of those items brings extreme anxiety. People who hoard may be so embarrassed at the state of their houses that they never allow others to visit, and they become isolated, as a result. They may pay month after month of fees to storage units to store items they never use. And those items that they cherish are rarely used, because it may be hard to access them through all the other things. Yet, their embarrassment about their hoarding behaviors may keep them from talking with a counselor about it, which is sad, because counseling can help.
Hoarding may stem from past experiences of poverty where there was never enough money for things you needed, or when your ownership of items was not respected. It is often connected to obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression. If you are experiencing this in your life, a counselor can help you with the painful feelings that have led to the hoarding behaviors. A counselor would never shame you or insist that you get rid of your things. As you feel better about yourself and your life, you will naturally make different choices about your things that will allow you to enjoy them and the space in which you live.
I hope you are never in a situation where you need to evacuate your home with only a few of your valuables, as I have experienced. But, I also hope you are living in a space where you fully enjoy the things you cherish right now. If that is not the case, and you feel that counseling could help you learn to make different choices about the items in your life, give us a call! You’ll be glad that you did.
