Caught a bit of "Neat" on the Life Network today. I've seen it before--it's where a woman name Helen comes into a person's home, very often a person who lives in squalor far worse than myself, which is both heartwarming and shocking all at the same time, and helps them organize there stuff and their lives. Helen and her clutter crew arrive and start the sort immediately, and then at some point, the clutteree breaks down and confesses that the reason they are cluttered is because a) some childhood trauma b) some recent trauma c) a lack of fullfillment in their life....it's never simply d) I'm a messy person.
And this brings us to the kicker of the show. You see Helen is not just a professional organizer, but also a life coach. I get what a life coach is, but not really how one becomes qualified to coach life and how they go about doing it. And yet, if you've ever met my grandfather you know why the two professions work well together. And if you've ever seen the show, you know that most of Helen's clutteree's either cry, get misty-eyed, or confess to having been close to some permutation of emotionality during the "Neat" process.
I have attempted to beat down my clutter, little by little, in recent months. I have given away so many items of clothing (to one charitable organization or another) that we now have a surplus of hangers enough to support the needs of Walmart Canada in my house. And yet I still have tons of stuff. And I still want to buy more stuff. And even if I lived in a mansion, I know there would still be too much. It is psychological.
But I try to remember that if I don't absolutely love it, someone else might. Or at least they might need it bad enough to love its function for them. Incidentally, after watching the show I did a clean out of the bathroom and threw out tons of product that was old and unused. I wonder what's in the back of Helen's closet. Because just as messy can be a disease, neat can become a psychosis. But really, I like the show. And she seems like a nice person.
And this brings us to the kicker of the show. You see Helen is not just a professional organizer, but also a life coach. I get what a life coach is, but not really how one becomes qualified to coach life and how they go about doing it. And yet, if you've ever met my grandfather you know why the two professions work well together. And if you've ever seen the show, you know that most of Helen's clutteree's either cry, get misty-eyed, or confess to having been close to some permutation of emotionality during the "Neat" process.
I have attempted to beat down my clutter, little by little, in recent months. I have given away so many items of clothing (to one charitable organization or another) that we now have a surplus of hangers enough to support the needs of Walmart Canada in my house. And yet I still have tons of stuff. And I still want to buy more stuff. And even if I lived in a mansion, I know there would still be too much. It is psychological.
But I try to remember that if I don't absolutely love it, someone else might. Or at least they might need it bad enough to love its function for them. Incidentally, after watching the show I did a clean out of the bathroom and threw out tons of product that was old and unused. I wonder what's in the back of Helen's closet. Because just as messy can be a disease, neat can become a psychosis. But really, I like the show. And she seems like a nice person.
No comments:
Post a Comment