Collector Or Hoarder
There is a television show called Buried Alive. It is about people who are buried in their possessions. Some people started out collecting dolls or books or something that might have increased in value. Some people started collecting clothes or other items.
Everyone whose story I’ve watched, however, has one thing in common. Their collecting became out of control after (or as a result of) a traumatic incident in their life.
Obviously the show documents the extreme hoarders since most viewers are shocked or fascinated that hoarding could reach such outrageous states.
Occasionally I wonder, “When does collecting become hoarding?”
Is it only when you refuse to sell, give away or otherwise get rid of what you are collecting?
Is it only when you have no more room to store those items that you have been collecting?
Is it when your collection becomes an obsession?
Or is it only when your collection becomes your number one priority in life, isolating you from your family, friends and community or when it becomes unsanitary?
Hoarding is generally defined or thought of as obsessively collecting something that is unnecessary and not needed.
I have collected many items at different times in my life. Stamps, coins, rocks, candles, vases, seashells and wine corks among other items. At the present time I still have the wine cork collection and it fills up a two gallon plastic bag. I wouldn’t call that a hoard, would you?
Okay, I confess that those wine corks are not needed. Oh wait, I needed them to create artwork (alphabet letters then alphabet letter words!). Doesn’t that count as a collection as opposed to a hoard?
Do you have any collections?
Are you obsessive about your collections?
Would you consider your collections a hoard?
I believe that asking yourself if your collections are hoards is most likely a good sign that they are not.
I don’t think that any of my collections have ever been a hoard and hopefully I will never become a hoarder, buried alive in my collections.
I will, however, most likely always have at least one “collection” of something that I feel is necessary, valuable or even delightful to me!
