Self help shows, my guilty pleasure.
I find self help shows fascinating. Recently I was introduced to Supersize v Superskinny on BBC. What a delight. I thoroughly identify with the supersize folks. And I’ve learned a lot about eating from that show.
Neat (another BBC creation) is another guilty pleasure… watching cleaners go through dirty, super cluttered houses to find order amid the chaos. Since I have recently moved, and currently have wayyy too much “stuff,” the show is helpful in many ways.
The shows are a reminder of the chaos in my father's home when he passed away. I don't want to leave that to my daughter or roommate. Or as my daughter put it... "If everything is important, nothing is important." When I was sorting Dad's house, some items were very important to me. I don't know what he considered important. I've often wondered if some item I consider precious was actually a recent auction/antique store find for him.
I understand accumulating things.. and wanting to hang onto the things that are useful. I don’t understand accumulating other people’s things and hanging onto them. Okay, I guess I do understand a bit. I’ve got my grandmother’s Sunday school certificate. This piece of paper is 100 years old. I’ve got checks signed by a grandfather who died when my father was 14… and I was… not even a gleam in my father’s eye.
Many friends don’t have that history from their family… it was lost, never passed down to their branch, or… whatever. Is it important for me to have? Yes.. Is it going to be important to my daughter? No. She is very practical, and avoids gathering stuff…. Is this stuff that might be good for a museum? Maybe. I’ll be asking some of the Southern Indiana museums… where those photos were taken, where those items were created… and see if anyone wants them.
I don’t know the people in those photos… At one time, grandma was talking about those people. I should have written it down. I didn’t. One branch of the family is lost… (the grandfather who died when dad was 14….don’t know much about his side…) Besides what I do know- is complicated… a family that was his, hers and ours…..with a total of 10 children. Let’s make this complicated.
Ultimately self help shows make me think about myself. Am I being that selfish? Am I that clueless? What does my life look like from the outside?
Neat (another BBC creation) is another guilty pleasure… watching cleaners go through dirty, super cluttered houses to find order amid the chaos. Since I have recently moved, and currently have wayyy too much “stuff,” the show is helpful in many ways.
The shows are a reminder of the chaos in my father's home when he passed away. I don't want to leave that to my daughter or roommate. Or as my daughter put it... "If everything is important, nothing is important." When I was sorting Dad's house, some items were very important to me. I don't know what he considered important. I've often wondered if some item I consider precious was actually a recent auction/antique store find for him.
I understand accumulating things.. and wanting to hang onto the things that are useful. I don’t understand accumulating other people’s things and hanging onto them. Okay, I guess I do understand a bit. I’ve got my grandmother’s Sunday school certificate. This piece of paper is 100 years old. I’ve got checks signed by a grandfather who died when my father was 14… and I was… not even a gleam in my father’s eye.
Many friends don’t have that history from their family… it was lost, never passed down to their branch, or… whatever. Is it important for me to have? Yes.. Is it going to be important to my daughter? No. She is very practical, and avoids gathering stuff…. Is this stuff that might be good for a museum? Maybe. I’ll be asking some of the Southern Indiana museums… where those photos were taken, where those items were created… and see if anyone wants them.
I don’t know the people in those photos… At one time, grandma was talking about those people. I should have written it down. I didn’t. One branch of the family is lost… (the grandfather who died when dad was 14….don’t know much about his side…) Besides what I do know- is complicated… a family that was his, hers and ours…..with a total of 10 children. Let’s make this complicated.
Ultimately self help shows make me think about myself. Am I being that selfish? Am I that clueless? What does my life look like from the outside?
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