Can a Hoarder become a Minimalist? Mental Health Recovery

so I have to ask can a hoarder become a minimalist can somebody completely change their state of mind to take a hoarded over cluttered home and completely clear it [Music] out hello everyone and welcome back to hoarder's heart I am Miss har I used to be a level four hoarder and now I'm a level one two is and while we're talking about this topic I'm going to be cleaning decluttering and redecorating the kitchen now the question is can a hoarder become a minimalist now I do want to say first that hoarding is a mental disorder so I don't want somebody out there who has this disorder feel very discouraged and feel like oh my gosh for me to become a minimalist is almost impossible I just want everyone to be aware that it is a mental disorder that people struggle with but the question was can a hoarder become a minimalist and of course the answer is absolutely absolutely they can because I believe every single person has the capacity and the strength within them to change any aspect of their life whether it's a habit a behavior a mindset a mental disorder I feel that when someone is so driven to their core they have the potential to change any characteristic about themselves the question comes into play that is that what you really want to do is that what you truly want or is there an outside Source putting pressure on you to change to be different to clean out your hoarded home or whatever bad habit you want to change that's where the real change occurs is that what you really want to do so when I was a fullblown hoarder level four been doing it my entire life since childhood there were a few factors that influenced me to change myself number one is going to be my kids I didn't want them to live in a hoarded house and I heard their concerns of wanting to have friends over but the house was too messy the other factors was Dawn the minimal mom on YouTube and also the minimalists watching their documentary on Netflix I was captivated by both of them because when they shared their story of minimalism they just seem so happy so free so peaceful they escaped the corporate entrapment of basically working for somebody else they freed themselves of consumerism and feeling the need to have the latest and greatest so that everyone could cheer and applaud all of their success really found happiness and minimalism and I thought to myself well that's the answer that's the answer answer I need to become a minimalist and as I continue to watch Dawn's videos back then in 2017 and 2018 and also listen to the minimalist podcast their consistent stories of just freeing up their schedule feeling the freedoms to be with their families and their friends and volunteer in Charities and work on passion projects and just to truly follow their heart I thought yes I can do that too and I'll always be eternally grateful for them for sparking that little candle Within Myself to want to change and I started a YouTube channel because I also wanted to humanize hoing disorder because it broke my heart every single time I saw a negative comment about someone who had a hoarded house because I could tell they didn't understand the mindset they only knew what they knew and what they thought was that the person just didn't care and was dirty and lazy when honestly it had nothing to do with those type of characteristics it had everything to do with anxiety ADHD PTSD depression and an umbrella of things triggering the hoarding behaviors so I decided to start my decluttering journey woohoo I could do this until I realized holy crap I don't think I can the issue lied within I was comparing myself to people that did not have hoarding disorder at all and I thought my outcome was going to be their exact outcome in their time frame and state of mind and what I quickly realized was that I had to honor where I was and do baby step decluttering allowing myself these changes over a period of years because my entire life I hoarded with this mindset it wasn't going to change in a matter of months at least not for me and over time together as a YouTube family we declutter we let go those Tossy Tossy piles that used to be one or two things started to grow we started encouraging each other and rooting each other on and now I get to look back to when I was a level four hoarder and say wow they made it here level one hoarding we've literally decluttered hundreds of thousands of things I'm still a level one hoarder and that's okay because even today still have a KNE gut reaction to hold on to everything even when I can make logical decision it's just ingrained in me but at least now I can talk myself through it and actually say hey I really don't need this I can joyfully let this go and transfer the joy we've strengthened our decluttering muscles we're better at making decisions and the empty space doesn't scare me as much as it did before now would people consider me to be a minimalist probably not in mainstream minimalism lifestyle living but to me girl gentleman everybody I feel like I'm a minimalist to who I was back in 2018 this is minimalism to me so a lot of it falls under how do you define minimalism to me my version of minimalism would be having cleared out spaces like going in and out of doorways not having piles upon piles of stuff on top of every flat surface which includes floor space and being able to not be mortified embarrassed by having people over when I open the door and my hoorde is exposed not having to deal with that is what minimalism is to me now can I still transition into what traditional minimalism looks like like with Dawn and the minimalist and Josh Becker I could but at this point I don't know if I really want to because I obtained what I've been wanting the whole time and that is how happy they were how joyful they were how their souls felt fulfilled how I knew their true intentions were to help people to heal people to help them Reach their goals so that they could also be free of this stuff too I knew that I was already living in that space so I do consider myself minimalistic for someone with hoarding disorder but truly what I kind of feel like I really am to everyone else is probably a maximalist and to me a maximalist is somebody who does have a lot of beautiful possessions whether it's art and textures and different pieces that just ignite their creativity it's still curated it's still organized and they feel the love and the passion and peace when they're in their homes that's ultimately what I am trying to obtain and now admittedly there are still a lot of things to be decluttered and there's still some behaviors and habits that need to be tweaked because there is still stuff messy and unorganized in the home I'm going to lovingly accept this space where I am today and continue my minimalistic decluttering journey and I just want to ask all of you that same question is in the sense of what are your dreams what are your Visions what is your life purpose that you feel within yourself but maybe you're too scared to go after it or maybe you don't know what that is at the moment took me a while to be able to finally figure out what my life purpose was it's okay but your soul and your heart already know what excites you what makes you happy happy what brings you peace what motivates you start to write down that goals what does that look like and are they my goals or is someone pressuring me to change because if there's an outside force asking you or pressuring you to change you're not going to change the change comes within here within your heart within your soul within your Drive that's where the true change occurs and just start taking those baby steps you might not be a hoarder in fact probably a majority of you are not who are watching this there may be other struggles that you have that you would like to change start to write it down and live in the potential that you have the capabilities to change anything start where you are if it's decluttering because that's where this channel is based on start with baby step decluttering start letting go of what feels right in your heart do not compare your journey and your victories to anybody else only compare it to you yourself did you make steps forward great I take a step back it's okay it's okay we'll get past it as long as we're continuously moving forward we're going to be able to reach those goals we'll be able to reach those dreams and I just want want you to know that you can change anything about yourself and that absolutely if a hoarder within themselves was absolutely driven to become a minimalist they absolutely can my hope my prayer is that this video motivated and encouraged you to clean the Clutter and let go of something in your home today too [Music]

Channel: A Hoarder's Heart

Views: 17,470

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Id: vPQ4lOehoN4

Length: 12min 31sec (751 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 24 2024