Hoarders! or How I Got the Urge to Purge

Hoarders: I caught a little bit of this show earlier, and if you haven’t seen it, it is basically about these mental cases who never throw anything away. It was shocking how much crap these people had accrued. And I’m not talking about just spoons and magazines and things, I’m talking about absolute filth. For instance, one woman’s water and heat had been turned off so she just started using adult diapers and throwing them in a pile in the kitchen. (seriously, I’m not exaggerating here. Her floor had rotted through because all of the dook.) Another woman had so much stuff piled up in her house that when the crew went in and started digging through it, they found a dead cat. It was basically a flat furry skeleton at that point, but somehow, the cat had died and just become part of the heap. Poor Mittens.

Anywho, after I finished barfing I had a strong desire to continue to purge some other things out of my life. Not things around the house, per se, because honestly, there isn’t much except clothes and books, and they are all neatly stacked in their respective cases. (Mostly) Instead, I took a few minutes to consider some aspects of my online life. I realized that I was following over 200 people on Tumblr, and many, many of them I could not give adult diaper worth of poo about. The people I kept all had posted lately with something insightful, interesting or clever to say or show, while the people I dropped posted useless, vapid and complainy things— and I don’t have room in my life for them. I don’t have time.

I’ve also been reading this book lately: Ignore Everybody and 39 other keys to creativity by Hugh MacLeod. It’s been totally eye opening for me, because it is just the kind of thing I need in my life right now. I could tell you more about it, but you’d be better off finding a copy for yourself, or at the very least, read MacLeod’s blog Gaping Void.

What I’m taking away from the book right now is  that working hard pays off, and good things do not happen to needy or lazy people. I couldn’t agree more. So I am trying to purge those people from my life in order to not become one of them.

Now, a majority of the people whose company I keep are not poisonous. I am often inspired most by the people whom I love, so don’t think I am complaining about you.

What this all boils down to is the fact that I have been hoarding people and been an excellent consumer online. I read blogs, I check out your stuff on Facebook, and I read your Tweets and I look at your Tumbls, but I haven’t been much of a producer lately. I’ve got a lot of places to point the blame, but the excuses are not working anymore. So I guess in a way, I’ve been hoarding ideas, too. An idea is useless until it becomes something more. I’m too creative to squander them away anymore.

So ask yourself this, friends, when you are considering keeping something:

Do I need this?

1 month ago | Tags: unfollow