Hoarding fears.

Last night I watched Hoarders:  Buried Alive.
For 2 hours.  That was enough.
I've never watched it before.
It scared me.
Know why?  Because I think
there are times in my life
when I could  easily slip
into doing nothing.  Ever.
And then before I would know it,
with kids and a husband
running amuck, the mess would
quickly become consuming and
overwhelming.

Last week was one of those weeks
for me.  Just so you know.  There are
times when I really struggle with depression.
When it hangs over me.  I hate it when
I feel that way.  Luckily it passes
quickly, although not as fast as I would
like.

Anyway, back to the hoarders. 

Having done home health care in my
career I have been in homes like this. 
One patient's son told me that his mother
died when she fell behind some
boxes and no one could find her.
Hmm.  Not sure if I believe it or not, but
how awful. 

Something that I noticed while watching
the show was the emotional issues
that these women were dealing with that
was leading to their hoarding habits.
I used to think of it as laziness. 

One case involved a lady that had lost
a infant son twenty years before and
began keeping things afterwards to avoid the pain
of his loss.  Twenty years.  That's a lifetime.

The other stories were just as sad.  It reminds
me of a line from one of my favorite hymns
"in the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the
eye can't see..."

We truly don't always know of the
burdens that others are carrying. 
Sometimes, that load can be too
much to bare alone.  Sometimes all it
takes is the love of another to reach
out and pull them from the depths
of sorrow.  Maybe that someone can
be you.  So, this weeks challenge to all
those who are reading. 
Do something to make another's burden
light.  And throw stuff away. 

Blog ya later, Missy