Stream of consciousness #2: About all the stuff.
I feel I can relate to the hoarders featured in the TV shows about hoarders. Their emotions and attachments to material things. I guess many of us have some of that mentality. My home does not look like a hoarder’s house thankfully. It’s getting lesser and lesser here. And more comfortable. Every time as I feel restless I kind of self medicate and throw something out. Apparently there is also OCD where people have to clean. I don’t fit into that category either but I can definitely understand that too.
Today I was feeling restless and I threw out lot of stuff. A pair of shoes that were broken, old ”important” paperwork etc. What is good about waiting 5-10-15 years to throw out important paperwork is that it makes it really uncomplicated. Important papers ten years ago belong almost 100% of the time, in the paper recyclables bin. Easy.
The question on my mind is: How do people (and I) get so attached to stuff? I think in general it’s a problem that is a bit hidden in society. We don’t really view it as weird to buy things we don’t need, or keep things we don’t seem to use. In a way, when everything is so available maybe a healthy response could be to not keep everything around because it’s quite gettable. But somehow we (read I) have the mentality of keeping for the future etc.
I wonder if this is something that has been passed on by the older generations. Their scarcity combined with the capitalism, advertising and consumerism that we live in today. Before they benefited from having this ”hoarding” mentality because in general they did not have access to all the stuff. My generation has the mentality and the access…I guess this is mostly for the developed part of the world. (Over developed in some respects?)
Anyway, I also put out some things to sell today, stuff that I inherited not so long ago. The person I inherited them from kept these quite valuable items in her closet for 50 years. So they didn’t define her, not me and certainly not our loving relationship. Now they have been in the back of my closet for a year. I hope somebody will buy them. This took me one year to realize.
These are just thoughts, I’m also for freedom in general. Freedom from being controlled by ”a market”, expectations, my own ego, prejudice etc. Working on all of those aspects right now. Usually the biggest change I experience seem to be in myself when I change my mindset in some way. It makes me feel like it doesn’t have to be the world that is ”wrong” in some ways. One can actually adjust viewpoint and it all gets a little bit better from that.
Up until some years ago I almost never used the word "I" or "me" if I wrote anything. Those words sounded so egotistical. But it's also not right to package opinions as some general truth. It's only thoughts. Merely my current opinion which can also change a lot with new information.
Have a nice day Steemians!