0
Decision making and hoarding
Posted by
karmakazi
,
20 August 2012
·
464 views
In prior posts I mentioned both my family of hoarders and my own attempts to eliminate much of what I own... Today I was thinking about the psychology of it a bit more...
It is thought that there may be a genetic component to hoarding, and as scientists have studied the brains of hoarders, they are finding that a decision making center in the brain does not light up "normally" when a hoarder tries to make a decision. In thinking about my family, they lack decisiveness in other ways besides "what to keep", and I myself struggle with decisions about many things in my life.
If I have the same genetics and mental traits as they do, what makes me so different?
I think that something which occurred in my life caused me to adapt to my difficulty in decision making...when I struggle to make a decision, particularly about acting upon something, my brain looks for the absolute simplest possible answer and that is almost always the route I take.
It just so happens that removing something from my home is far simpler than trying to find a place for it or put upkeep into it. Regardless of whether something is donated or trashed, it doesn't matter. What makes me most comfortable is for it to be gone, and for fewer things to come through my door in the first place.
In other decisions I make, the simplest route could be "I don't have much money in the bank and I have the things to throw together a quick salad at home" which leads me to eat healthy, or "I don't have any food in the fridge and fast food is right on the way home" which leads me to eat unhealthy...
Literally every decision I make in my life is based on the simplest answer. When I have a to-do list, I do the easiest /fastest /least involved things first, just to get them off the list and reduce the number of things that need to be done. Then I start to tackle the more complex tasks, with a clearer mind because I know that the list is mostly checked off. I need the list to be shorter before I can truely focus on somethign more complex... hmm. I suppose that has something to do with OCD and ADD, neither of which have I been diagnosed with but the evidence is in my life.
Understanding this about myself enables me to formulate far better strategies for reaching my goals. I take advantage of my "simplest path" tendancy, and I make the goal into the easiest path. If I'm more likely to take that path in every day life, accomplishing the goal becomes automatic and nearly effortless.
I cannot be alone in my thinking, as on a TV show I've watched, there was a character who kept her mayo in the garage because "If I want it, I have to walk for it". This is a perfect example of making the right path (eating healthy) the easiest path.
I think the worst part about my decision making struggles is if I cannot find the simplest path I tend to default to the emotional one... and that is disaster waiting to happen! Perhaps I'll figure this one out at some point as well... one step at a time.
It is thought that there may be a genetic component to hoarding, and as scientists have studied the brains of hoarders, they are finding that a decision making center in the brain does not light up "normally" when a hoarder tries to make a decision. In thinking about my family, they lack decisiveness in other ways besides "what to keep", and I myself struggle with decisions about many things in my life.
If I have the same genetics and mental traits as they do, what makes me so different?
I think that something which occurred in my life caused me to adapt to my difficulty in decision making...when I struggle to make a decision, particularly about acting upon something, my brain looks for the absolute simplest possible answer and that is almost always the route I take.
It just so happens that removing something from my home is far simpler than trying to find a place for it or put upkeep into it. Regardless of whether something is donated or trashed, it doesn't matter. What makes me most comfortable is for it to be gone, and for fewer things to come through my door in the first place.
In other decisions I make, the simplest route could be "I don't have much money in the bank and I have the things to throw together a quick salad at home" which leads me to eat healthy, or "I don't have any food in the fridge and fast food is right on the way home" which leads me to eat unhealthy...
Literally every decision I make in my life is based on the simplest answer. When I have a to-do list, I do the easiest /fastest /least involved things first, just to get them off the list and reduce the number of things that need to be done. Then I start to tackle the more complex tasks, with a clearer mind because I know that the list is mostly checked off. I need the list to be shorter before I can truely focus on somethign more complex... hmm. I suppose that has something to do with OCD and ADD, neither of which have I been diagnosed with but the evidence is in my life.
Understanding this about myself enables me to formulate far better strategies for reaching my goals. I take advantage of my "simplest path" tendancy, and I make the goal into the easiest path. If I'm more likely to take that path in every day life, accomplishing the goal becomes automatic and nearly effortless.
I cannot be alone in my thinking, as on a TV show I've watched, there was a character who kept her mayo in the garage because "If I want it, I have to walk for it". This is a perfect example of making the right path (eating healthy) the easiest path.
I think the worst part about my decision making struggles is if I cannot find the simplest path I tend to default to the emotional one... and that is disaster waiting to happen! Perhaps I'll figure this one out at some point as well... one step at a time.
Or, maybe a book... lol
