The Connection Bridgewater-Somerville Edition Dec 2018/Jan 2019

www.theconnectionsnj.com TOO MUCH OF ANYTHING IS NOT ALWAYS A GOOD THING By: Patricia Diesel, CPC I’ve been helping people with clutter for 20+ years. I’ve learned a thing or two about why people acquire things and why it’s so difficult for them to let go. Although clut- ter may outwardly appear for some to be just a bunch of random things collected or a messy place where things don’t have a home, I can hon- estly tell you, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Truthfully, for me, clutter makes me feel a bit disorient- ed. Too much of anything makes me that way. Clutter reminds me of the time I ate way too much chocolate and I felt the after effects that cocoa and sugar can have on the nervous system. It sure did taste good initially. But I had no clue how I would feel later. All I knew was it tasted good and I wanted more. I had no idea of the physical toll it would take. I think it’s like that for people with clutter. At first, when they buy or find something new they’re all excited. They think of a million reasons why it’s a good idea to bring home yet another item. Then one day, the thrill of the hunt is no longer appealing or gets them high. In fact, it does the com- plete opposite – it brings them down to a complete crash. It takes a physical toll on them. Suddenly, they are faced with the reality that they have too much stuff and not enough space. Now it may appear obvious for some who would say, Just get rid of it. But it’s not that easy. If it was so easy, 1 out of every 10 Americans wouldn’t be renting offsite storage – the United States now has 2.3 billion square feet of self-stor- age space. (New York Times Magazine) O RGANIZE THAT PAGE 24