Hot diggity damn. It’s hard to believe that 3 years ago today I published my first post on this blog about hoarding.
I had so much fear around being vulnerable and sharing my hoarding experiences that this blog almost never happened. Were it not for the support of my husband, brother, friends, and stellar friend / former coach / all-around business & brand magic creatrix Sanja Avramovic, “Life Is No Object” never would’ve seen the light of day.
I’m so glad it did.
To celebrate the 3rd birthday of this blog, let’s have a big slice of virtual cake as I share a few lessons I’ve learned along the way.
The Wisdom
Being honest about my hoarding story brought me more healing than I could’ve expected. Hearing from so many of you about your own experiences, struggles, heartbreaks, and triumphs has reinforced my belief that Things Can Be Different for all of us.
There’s so much opportunity for us to move beyond hoarding and create new relationships with the items we choose to keep in our lives and the significance or power we’re willing to give them.
The Mess
This is not a task for the fainthearted. You do not f*ck around with a hoard. It will challenge you every single step of the way, daring you to give up.
It is profound, triggering, traumatic, and healing — all rolled into one.
Catharsis comes at a cost. You must be willing to pay it if you’re going to do this work, digging into both literal and psychological shadows. You must accept the huge amount of unknown “unknowns.” You will not emerge as the same person, which sounds scary but which is actually great.
If your situation’s anything like mine, the hoarding may be a long-held ancestral pattern that goes back generations and that will seem near impossible to change. But you can change it.
The Magic
If you do take on this challenge, you can be richly rewarded in terms of your own opportunity for growth and healing.
Keeping our experiences around hoarding hidden is like keeping all of our stuff piled up, dusty and shameful, behind the walls of our homes. It perpetuates the cycle and doesn’t open us up to get any help or effect any change.
When you expose it and confront it, you’re no longer hiding. You’re flinging open the door, clearing things out, and opening up so much more space in your home and life for better, more satisfying things.
Spotting the Magical Signs
Each time I felt like I was thiiiiiiiis close to my breaking point, a magical sign of encouragement would pop up to reset my thinking, make me laugh, and startle me out of my sad stupor. Those signs included dozens and dozens of unicorns in all forms, along with “Star Wars” cards in the most unexpected places. (Btw, May the 4th be with you.) 🙂
You Have to Laugh
Remember, the healing magic of humor is always there. Yes, even for something as seemingly dire and depressing like hoarding. In a hoard, you are bound to find some object so outrageously weird, fugly, goofy, or glorious that you are forced to laugh. Just check out some of my previous “WTF Wednesday” features if you don’t believe me.
I’ll be diving into all of these topics more deeply in the weeks to come. For now, let me heartily thank you for your support and for your own bravery in sharing your stories with me and hopefully with others.
May your life be filled with hope, healing, and joy.
-Rachel
