Hoarders: motivation and correlation
Happy Sunday Bleeps,
Do you watch Hoarders? For someone with mild OCD it is good and bad. Sometimes it's so difficult for me to watch that I just walk away. Part of me wants to jump in and help. Part of me wants to cry. Part of me wants to throw up. Part of me understands the family's frustration. Part of me gets frustrated when the family yells. It's a range of emotions.
It's hard to watch the beginning when people are going about their daily business as if nothing was wrong. Even when faced with eviction or removal of children there doesn't seem to be an urgency to fix things.
If you watch you will notice that they not only bring in people to organize and clean, but also a therapist to help. You don't get to this point because everything is ok.
The first day of cleaning will start okay. Then after a little bit the hoarder will begin to get rattled. It's too much too fast for them. They will start pulling things from the trash piles and halt all progress. It seems hopeless. There is no way this will get better.
Then after the commercial it is 30 days later and we are back to see the progress. More often then not things are in much better shape. Sometimes it's practically perfect and sometimes there is no change. The severe improvements are good for my heart. The OCD girl can finally breathe. The girl who watched the whole episode sometimes has a hard time grasping the quick change. This is the problem with "TV magic". You tend to see the extremes and not the in between. I need the in between. That's where the lessons are.
So why am I bringing this up? Well there are a couple of reasons. Thanks for asking.
First, I get way anxious when things are all a clutter in my life. It stresses me. It depresses me. It makes me eat. Sometimes I jump up and tackle the problem like I am in a vacuum. I forget to eat or I eat too much. I forget to rest. I forget to drink water. It will be 2am before I come up for air. Sometimes I need to sit back and make a plan. I am the type of person who starts in one section then gets sidetracked by another. It may not look pretty to someone else, but there is rhyme and reason in my head. If someone were looking at it they would not understand.
This past week has been a joy for me. Finally all of my belongings are in the same spot. Granted they are all in boxes, bins, and bags. Yes, the OCD chick has been living out of bins for 2014. It's been a little longer than I had hoped, but that's ok. It made going through my stuff a little easier. If I haven't used it then maybe I can go without.
I wanted to go through everything and get rid of more stuff. It took me 5 days and my stuff was already packed and organized. Now granted my stuff isn't covered in feces or rotting food and is in much better shape. But, it's also much smaller in volume. And this amount felt daunting. There were emotional ties. If I hadn't seen it I would have forgotten about it. Someone could have sorted through it and gotten rid of stuff for me a lot easier...but that thought frightens me beyond belief. Control!!!!
I feel like a new person when things are clean and organized. I feel better. I feel clearer. I feel like I can deal with anything. When there is clutter and all I want to do is clean it I can find myself climbing in bed overwhelmed by the task. It's frustrating. When things are organized I can focus on me. No more excuses.
This week I watched a couple of episodes before I really got started. It was highly motivating.
Second, I see a correlation between hoarders and unhealthy lifestyles. Imagine that you are extremely unhealthy and you have 30 days to make it all better. Imagine that the doctor just said that you will die if you don't make these changes (forget the doctor, I am telling you that your unhealthy lifestyle will eventually kill you). If I started you with an all day boot camp the odds are that you wouldn't make it through without getting frustrated and stopping. It would be too much too fast.
Yes I want you to get healthy as fast as possible, but the reality is that there are other factors. It won't change overnight. The number one goal of a trainer is to help a client maintain a healthy lifestyle. Only 50% of people who sign up with gyms and trainers are still going 6 months later. That's not good. We want you to come back. I can push you til you puke on that first day, but if you aren't truly ready to change your entire life then it's not going to matter. It takes a month for these guys to turn things around. One workout won't make it all better. It takes work and dedication. And let me tell you from experience that it is SO WORTH IT!
Have a Blessed Evening
****Please note****
If you feel like you are alone on your journey and you just need some encouragement I am here for you! Shoot me an email and I will do my best to check in on you or give you the words of support you need several times a week. The journey is so much easier if you have support.
jhendersonfit@gmail.com
Do you watch Hoarders? For someone with mild OCD it is good and bad. Sometimes it's so difficult for me to watch that I just walk away. Part of me wants to jump in and help. Part of me wants to cry. Part of me wants to throw up. Part of me understands the family's frustration. Part of me gets frustrated when the family yells. It's a range of emotions.
It's hard to watch the beginning when people are going about their daily business as if nothing was wrong. Even when faced with eviction or removal of children there doesn't seem to be an urgency to fix things.
If you watch you will notice that they not only bring in people to organize and clean, but also a therapist to help. You don't get to this point because everything is ok.
The first day of cleaning will start okay. Then after a little bit the hoarder will begin to get rattled. It's too much too fast for them. They will start pulling things from the trash piles and halt all progress. It seems hopeless. There is no way this will get better.
Then after the commercial it is 30 days later and we are back to see the progress. More often then not things are in much better shape. Sometimes it's practically perfect and sometimes there is no change. The severe improvements are good for my heart. The OCD girl can finally breathe. The girl who watched the whole episode sometimes has a hard time grasping the quick change. This is the problem with "TV magic". You tend to see the extremes and not the in between. I need the in between. That's where the lessons are.
So why am I bringing this up? Well there are a couple of reasons. Thanks for asking.
First, I get way anxious when things are all a clutter in my life. It stresses me. It depresses me. It makes me eat. Sometimes I jump up and tackle the problem like I am in a vacuum. I forget to eat or I eat too much. I forget to rest. I forget to drink water. It will be 2am before I come up for air. Sometimes I need to sit back and make a plan. I am the type of person who starts in one section then gets sidetracked by another. It may not look pretty to someone else, but there is rhyme and reason in my head. If someone were looking at it they would not understand.
This past week has been a joy for me. Finally all of my belongings are in the same spot. Granted they are all in boxes, bins, and bags. Yes, the OCD chick has been living out of bins for 2014. It's been a little longer than I had hoped, but that's ok. It made going through my stuff a little easier. If I haven't used it then maybe I can go without.
I wanted to go through everything and get rid of more stuff. It took me 5 days and my stuff was already packed and organized. Now granted my stuff isn't covered in feces or rotting food and is in much better shape. But, it's also much smaller in volume. And this amount felt daunting. There were emotional ties. If I hadn't seen it I would have forgotten about it. Someone could have sorted through it and gotten rid of stuff for me a lot easier...but that thought frightens me beyond belief. Control!!!!
I feel like a new person when things are clean and organized. I feel better. I feel clearer. I feel like I can deal with anything. When there is clutter and all I want to do is clean it I can find myself climbing in bed overwhelmed by the task. It's frustrating. When things are organized I can focus on me. No more excuses.
This week I watched a couple of episodes before I really got started. It was highly motivating.
Second, I see a correlation between hoarders and unhealthy lifestyles. Imagine that you are extremely unhealthy and you have 30 days to make it all better. Imagine that the doctor just said that you will die if you don't make these changes (forget the doctor, I am telling you that your unhealthy lifestyle will eventually kill you). If I started you with an all day boot camp the odds are that you wouldn't make it through without getting frustrated and stopping. It would be too much too fast.
Yes I want you to get healthy as fast as possible, but the reality is that there are other factors. It won't change overnight. The number one goal of a trainer is to help a client maintain a healthy lifestyle. Only 50% of people who sign up with gyms and trainers are still going 6 months later. That's not good. We want you to come back. I can push you til you puke on that first day, but if you aren't truly ready to change your entire life then it's not going to matter. It takes a month for these guys to turn things around. One workout won't make it all better. It takes work and dedication. And let me tell you from experience that it is SO WORTH IT!
Have a Blessed Evening
****Please note****
If you feel like you are alone on your journey and you just need some encouragement I am here for you! Shoot me an email and I will do my best to check in on you or give you the words of support you need several times a week. The journey is so much easier if you have support.
jhendersonfit@gmail.com
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