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Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Thinking of you @Maggie  and sending much Heart as usual...

 

 

Hi @Emelia8 , am about to go to your thread as you mentioned you were going to update it Heart

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

@NatureLover  Nice to see you.

 

I stopped myself from coming earlier, trying not to put any  pressure on you. But you are very much in my thoughts.

 

I did tag you in another thread, not so you would reply, but to keep you in the loop.

 

Sometimes , it’s just good to see a tag here and there, helps that belonging feeling, because you very much belong.

 

I hope today is ok enough for you. Rain forecast here, so I don’t need to water the garden. 😁😁

 

Leaving some freshly picked strawberries from my garden. I hope you like strawberries. 🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓💕💕💕💕💕💕

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Strawberries! Oh yum! Thanks 🙂

 

 


@Maggie wrote:

I stopped myself from coming earlier, trying not to put any  pressure on you. But you are very much in my thoughts.


Please don't ever stop yourself from coming onto this thread...you never put pressure on me. It's so lovely to see you and chat. 🙂

 

 


@Maggie wrote:

I did tag you in another thread, not so you would reply, but to keep you in the loop.

 

Sometimes , it’s just good to see a tag here and there, helps that belonging feeling, because you very much belong.


 

Thank you - I appreciated that. Sometimes I don't know where to go, there's so many threads to go on, so I wanted to leave a message for Lilly. Thanks for the belonging feeling. 

 

I still haven't decided what to do...I'm worried about losing friends if I stay away for 3 months. Also not knowing what's going on for people...not being able to support them in their time of need. I will keep thinking.

 

Am feeling heavy physically and dopey mentally today...I couldn't think of what to write earlier, so I'm glad you posted. The connections are what I value on the forums.

 

It's good you don't have to water...we will both save on watering this summer, as it's the La Nina weather pattern which means a wet summer. Maybe that also means less heat for you? Not sure. 

 

@Maggie  💜

 

 

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

@NatureLover  I do understand what you mean, wanting to support people who are struggling, but it’s really hard to look after yourself in the process.

 

I have cut back, not because I don’t care, quite the opposite in fact. I get overwhelmed and overloaded. There are always others around, that’s the beauty of the forums.

 

Take you time to think through what’s best for you.

 

I will drop off pic and thoughts, but there is never any pressure to respond.

 

We’ve had 3 very hot days down this way, 29, 28,28. It doesn’t sound that hot, but it was over the top for this Irish woman. It’s not summer yet. 😂😂😂

 

I hope the warmer days are better for you. Time in nature. I will try and get a pic of my birds having a bath. It’s wonderful to watch. They love it when the sprinkler is on. I had crickets making a hell of a racket the other night. I couldn’t hear tv. I appreciated it all the same.

 

Lots of these for you. 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜🍓🍓🍓🍓

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Thanks for empathy @NatureLover, have you had a formal diagnosis for hoarding? Is it in the DSM? Is there known treatment? I think it should include buying frenzi shopaholic / thrill-of-the-buy, especially sales 😟
If I try get ruthless try chuck stuff it feels like death, I have to get angry and that, triggers SI A more gentle approach that's slowly reducing stuff is to have a tall box to chuck things in easily when I realise it's just in the way. When full empty in bags and put in car for next charity trip. Tossed some clothes yesterday (found bag I hadn't unpacked)
🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Thank you dear @Maggie  for the poem, and for thinking of me 🙂

 

 


@Maggie wrote:

I have cut back, not because I don’t care, quite the opposite in fact. I get overwhelmed and overloaded.


Yes - I understand. I know you care Heart

 

 


@Maggie wrote:

We’ve had 3 very hot days down this way, 29, 28,28. It doesn’t sound that hot, but it was over the top for this Irish woman. It’s not summer yet. 😂😂😂

 

I hope the warmer days are better for you. Time in nature. I will try and get a pic of my birds having a bath. It’s wonderful to watch. They love it when the sprinkler is on. 


You have birds? I would like to see them... I'm sorry it's been too hot for you...it's always better when the heat is broken up by cooler days. Do you have an airconditioner? I like warm weather but not too hot. Yes, have been spending lots of time outside. 

 

I've decided I will try to spend a week just on my thread here...see if I can manage not trying to support others on their threads. I hate the thought that they'll think I don't care, when I do. 😞 I'm not sure yet what I will do about new posters...am still thinking. 

 

I hope this week might be a little better for you, if possible... Heart

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Hi @Emelia8 ...I'm going to do what Maggie suggested, and trial a week just on this thread...it's going to be hard for me to stick to. Please keep tagging me, as I want to know your news. I hope you are OK and that your pain levels are improving each day...sending Heart

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Hi @Former-Member ...yes, I have a formal diagnosis for Hoarding Disorder. Yes, it's in the DSM. There are good strategies for treating it, and an excellent book for treating it is called "Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Hoarding", by David. F Tolin and Gail Steketee.

 

I've had a lot of success working on it over the years with my psychologist (not using the book above). I've got rid of huge tall piles of stuff that was outside under massive tarpaulins...stuff that I'd kept for over 30 years. Now I just have mostly the inside stuff to deal with, plus a few boxes in the shed that I can't face yet. They have been sorted, but there's no room inside for the stuff, so I need to throw them out I guess.

 

There are 2 aspects to hoarding...the stuff that you bring home, and the stuff that you need to throw away, that you already have. I'm pretty OK now with not bringing excess stuff home...it's just the throwing away that I need to do more work on. It's soooo hard!

 

 


@Former-Member wrote:
If I try get ruthless try chuck stuff it feels like death, I have to get angry and that, triggers SI 

I'm really sorry to hear this 😞 .💔

 

 


@Former-Member wrote:
A more gentle approach that's slowly reducing stuff is to have a tall box to chuck things in easily when I realise it's just in the way. When full empty in bags and put in car for next charity trip. 

Wow, I'm impressed - I couldn't do that! I have to fully process each item, even if it's just a piece of paper. I have to think through where I got the item, what it means to me, where I could store it, how to save it if I can't store it (like taking a picture of it and storing it on my computer), and then I have to make the decision to say goodbye to it. It's exhausting and very, very hard to do. I have to be in the zone. 

 

I was throwing away just one item per day at one point - that worked very well, up till the point where the items became difficult (the too-hard basket). Then I found I wasn't in the zone, not ruthless enough, so couldn't do the processing and make the decisions. So I had to stop doing that, unfortunately. 

 

I'm enjoying having someone to talk to about this stuff 🙂

Re: Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

Okay @NatureLover  I think thats a sensible choice, and I hope it works well enough for you.  Incidentally I updated my thread last night, which I did tag you into.  So if you got that notification then I wont need to update you any further here.  It was quite a long update I did last night to my thread, and would rather not replicate it here.  Or in fact I think the guidelines prevent double ups anyway, so I cant. 😊  But in short ... yes my pain levels are reducing. 🤗💞

 

Today is one of your volunteer work days, so ... I hope it goes well and you get both enjoyment and a sense of fulfilment from it.

 

I will catch you here another time.  Keep working on your recovery beautiful NatureLover. 🌺💜🧡💛

 

Emelia 🌸

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