Invisibility Part 3
I've figured out a trigger to the feelings of invisibility and it's nearly a daily one: junk mail. Yep:
So for years, I've cultivated a lifestyle with a smaller and smaller consumer footprint. I recycle everything I can, keep purchases to what is needed not wanted, conserve water, grow and preserve some of my own food and so on. With that, the junk mail I received was nearly non-existent....
...Until now. When my aunt passed, I had no idea what I was doing. No one could answer my questions as far as what I could or couldn't do legally. Unfortunately, I followed one of the poor pieces of advice from the social worker in the retirement community where my aunt lived and filled out a change of address form. I found the will later and found out also later that only the executor can fill out a change of address. Now I can't fill another one out and the woman who calls herself my mother refuses to. So I'm stuck getting the mail.
I receive on average 8-14 pieces of junk mail EVERY DAY! It's mind-boggling that there's so much junk still to send. She donated, so got on every give-me-money mailing list known to man. The usual medical and clothing catalogs too. I want my mailbox back! I want my simple mail time back, not this time-consuming trash! At first, I recycled it all- until I realized the volume and it wasn't slowing down. Now, I obliterate all of her mailing info (especially the bar code!), and write "deceased; return to sender" and take it to the post office and drop in their bin. I've had to figure out that everything needs to be completely darkened out or it gets returned to me. I do this with all mail now because even the official correspondence wasn't being taken care of by that woman. It got sent back to me. *sigh*
I've tried to explain that this holds me from progressing with my grief for my aunt. It's a trigger for my anxiety and depression because I still don't know what could happen and also because it represents a part of our culture's lifestyle that I loathe and have had no part of for years. All I know is I'm sick of my mailbox (apartment-sized) being stuffed with someone else's mail and no alternative to what I'm doing now.
So for years, I've cultivated a lifestyle with a smaller and smaller consumer footprint. I recycle everything I can, keep purchases to what is needed not wanted, conserve water, grow and preserve some of my own food and so on. With that, the junk mail I received was nearly non-existent....
...Until now. When my aunt passed, I had no idea what I was doing. No one could answer my questions as far as what I could or couldn't do legally. Unfortunately, I followed one of the poor pieces of advice from the social worker in the retirement community where my aunt lived and filled out a change of address form. I found the will later and found out also later that only the executor can fill out a change of address. Now I can't fill another one out and the woman who calls herself my mother refuses to. So I'm stuck getting the mail.
I receive on average 8-14 pieces of junk mail EVERY DAY! It's mind-boggling that there's so much junk still to send. She donated, so got on every give-me-money mailing list known to man. The usual medical and clothing catalogs too. I want my mailbox back! I want my simple mail time back, not this time-consuming trash! At first, I recycled it all- until I realized the volume and it wasn't slowing down. Now, I obliterate all of her mailing info (especially the bar code!), and write "deceased; return to sender" and take it to the post office and drop in their bin. I've had to figure out that everything needs to be completely darkened out or it gets returned to me. I do this with all mail now because even the official correspondence wasn't being taken care of by that woman. It got sent back to me. *sigh*
I've tried to explain that this holds me from progressing with my grief for my aunt. It's a trigger for my anxiety and depression because I still don't know what could happen and also because it represents a part of our culture's lifestyle that I loathe and have had no part of for years. All I know is I'm sick of my mailbox (apartment-sized) being stuffed with someone else's mail and no alternative to what I'm doing now.
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