I’ve learned something in over a decade of professional organizing: there is no such thing as an unmitigated good. There is nothing so wonderful that it cannot go wrong when taken to an extreme.
I know, that’s a big, bold statement. But think about it! Chocolate? Tummy ache city. Rainbows? Flooding. Puppies? Dog hoarding is a serious problem for both people and dogs.
Let me give you an example from my personal work with clients in San Francisco. It’s a toughie, so I ask for an open mind as I walk you through this concept.
There are a lot of people in the Bay Area who are either first or second generation immigrants and I’ve been fortunate enough to have some of them as my clients. To state the obvious, immigration is incredibly difficult. You come to this country with very little or nothing to your name, and you have to build it all up from scratch. That is just really, really hard, no matter who you are.
While immigrants are trying to get established and rebuild their lives, they often need to conserve every resource they have. They buy very little, and when they do buy, they try to do it as cheaply as possible. They reuse everything. They hold on to everything just in case, because if they need it later, they won’t be able to afford it. These behaviors help them survive, and I don’t think any of us would disagree that doing what you need to do to survive is a very good thing.
So how is this relevant to organizing, you ask?
What happens is that many immigrants and children of immigrants keep doing these saving and reusing behaviors long after they are necessary. In fact, even after they become financially secure, they continue these behaviors to the extent that they are actively detrimental to their wellbeing.
My clients tell me, “I’m disorganized. I’m overwhelmed. My space is so full, and my parents get mad when I get rid of anything and keep giving me more, and I know it’s coming from a place of love, but it’s driving me nuts.” And side note, all that stuff the parents are giving tends to be a large quantity of not particularly nice stuff because, remember, they’ve been in saving mode for so long they prioritize low price over everything else. It’s stuff you can absolutely use when in survival mode, but in financial security it just becomes a lot of clutter.
A continual influx of clutter can really take a toll on people, for all the reasons I’ve described so many times. Clutter saps your energy, steals your space, increases your cortisol, and instigates conflict.
So, when you’re thinking about how you relate to your stuff, I want you to ask yourself: is keeping stuff just in case a good thing, or has it become too much of a good thing?
LMW
