Picking Up

I watched a documentary on hoarding last night while I walked on my treadmill. The topic always intrigues me--probably because the people with that disorder are the exact opposite of me. While they need things to make them feel organized, clutter makes me nervous.
They interviewed Melodie, a woman who is completely overcome by this disorder. She can't work and therapy has been unsuccessful. Her apartment has barely a path to walk through and even organizing one shelf--with a counselor's help--overwhelmed her. At the end she was being evicted because of her many fire code violations.
Well, maybe the counselor couldn't help Melodie, but she sure had me examining my living space. Why was that shirt still lying on the chair? Why wasn't that laundry put away? I could hardly wait to finish my mile before I put those things away that I had become blind to. I then moved on to the kitchen and picked up more odds and ends before heading to bed. Of course, most of those things have been replaced with other things today since since five people do live here, but it made me feel better to have my house looking put together until morning.
Thankfully, hoarding is not one of my problems (except maybe when Bath & Body Works has a great sale). But, I do have a tendency to become blind to the things that get scattered around the house on a daily basis. And then there are the things I never do, like scrub my stovetop or clean my oven. I am blind to that until my mom visits and tells me I really should do those things once in a awhile (or she cleans my stove for me). Thanks again, Mom!