Published on 12, July, 2020
I was wondering today if this is an autistic thing.
I've spent several decades collecting objects and the last decade+ trying to rid myself of the majority.
However, I have given up on the idea of ever being minimalist.
I notice that I remember where everything came from, even, when purchased, which shop in which town.
I try not to be sentimental about things, but sometimes I can't help it.
My mother, who I believe was autistic, was a hoarder in quite an extreme sense.
My autistic friend finds it very hard to part with belongings.
Everything has an association.
Are others like this and are there contributors here who are genuinely minimalistic and don't have an attachment to things?
I just Googled feeling that inanimate objects are alive, having feelings, as this is something I experience.
I found this article.
I haven't read it myself as I'm just about to go out but will read later:
https://adultswithautism.org.uk/autism-feeling-sympathy-for-inanimate-objects/
It's dated 2015, so possibly there is now more up-to-date research.
I haven’t read it but I believe some autistic people bond with objects because other people are too much to fathom, you don’t have to maintain a friendship with an object yet it’s full of memories, an object ask nothing of you and never judges or belittles you. Some objects or collections have a nice texture or a colour that stimulates the mind. I get much more out of being with things I’ve collected than ever being with people.