Posted by chdurie2 on October 9, 2000, at 23:34:05
In reply to Re: How to resume normal life? for noa..., posted by noa on October 4, 2000, at 12:34:18
> I had posted a response a couple of days ago, and have no idea what happened to it......
>
> essentially, I said "thank you" because your responses helped me a lot. It does help to connect to others who understand this strange experience.
>
> Caroline, maybe it would help to pair up and noencourage each other along in cleaning up the messes, literal and figurative. Perhaps by email?Noa-an e-mail support pairing would be great! this is really tough stuff for me, as i'm sure it is for you, too.
i haven't responded earlier cuz i've been busy studying for an exam i was supposed to take on saturday that i'll end up taking in december when it's given again. but...
on saturday, i boxed up one big box and one medium box of gifts i've bought for an ex-long-distance boyfriend over the years and never sent.
(b-day, xmas, etc. - he always sends me something.) i'm always saying i'll send them but never do. for some reasonj, i find the u.s. mail very intimidating. well, that got some stuff out of the house. when i brought them tp post office, funny thing was, the clerk, who knows me by face, said: "good job, kiddo." i don't know what he was referring to, but i thought he was right. there's a nice hole where all that stuff was. but that's like one millionth of the job.
then, today, i uncovered stashes of old styrofoam noodles and bubble wrap that i had been saving to wrap those presents with, and that's one garbage bag worth of stuff. sort of a joke, cuz a friend confessed to me that she cannot let go of old noodles and bubble wrap, that for some reason, she hoards it like she'll never be able to buy more. so it felt good tossing that. then i took all the boxes that i had scattered all over the living room to box up excess stuff for storage and put them inside each other and then made a tall pile of the condensed boxes in one corner. figured that was better than seeing them all over. then i went through one box of stuff i pulled from my car at least a year ago and actually threw some of it out. then i went through a pile of stuff on a chair and organized it.
these little, itty-bitty steps...my p-doc said i have to think of it in baby steps, cuz when i think of the whole thing, it becomes mind-bogglingly terrifying. but the thing is, i know i'm pretty close to being out of easy stuff, and most of the rest is hard stuff.
i'm just a stuff monster, and i love my stuff. there's just too damn much of it. i'm an antiques dealer, and i collect just about everything. some choices have to be made here, and i don't like doing that.
i just had to laugh at myself last nite cuz i couldn't find a cheese grater, and i must own at least 25 of them since i collect old kitchen implements, among other things. i ended up using the back of a strainer, but tonite i walked into the kitchen, and there was a cheese grater staring at me. i didn't see it cuz there's so much stuff around it - and it also was in a place i didn't expect.
i walk around here, and i just shake my head looking cuz there's 50 of everything each slightly different, and i want them all!
anyway, noa, my e-mail address is chdurie2@aol.com. i'll look forward to hearing your trevails.caroline
poster:chdurie2
thread:753
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20000813/msgs/909.html