One night the house was in darkness as my husband was watching something on the home cinema system and was making sure the sound system was working at its optimum level. As a result he needed to concentrate very hard on the sound so had all eliminated all distractions such as the lighting to enable this. During a break in his labours he heard a crash from outside which turned out to be would-be burglars trying to break in through the French windows but the garden bench was in the way so they tipped it over very noisily. My husband turned on the outside lights which made them run away across the back garden, into an adjoining garden then into the house behind it which they did manage to burgle.

The result of all this was that we are now having external lighting and alarms fitted which means that the house has had to be radically tidied up to enable the workmen to install the cabling and other equipment necessary.

At first I found it a huge inconvenience then it became a blessing in disguise as we've been putting off blitzing the house for ages. Now we had to clear up thirty years of accumulated junk and it's been a fantastic experience.

Every day I feel I've shed pounds of anxiety so wake up feeling much lighter all the time. I realised I'd been hanging on to things for no real reason except a misguided feeling of security which I got from hoarding things like magazines from the 1980s which were never going to be read and it was a breakthrough moment when I picked up a pile and put it straight into recycling. That bin is a brilliant idea and for the next month or two is going to earn its keep in disposing of items from my past. I thought I'd be sentimental and backtrack on my decisions to throw things out but the results have been so beneficial I'm absolutely hooked on cleaning up and downsizing my possessions. I'm so grateful to those burglars who inadvertently started of this healing process so thanks very much whoever you are. I'm just sorry the house behind us got burgled instead.

I'm looking forward to being able to see what's going on outside the house and having an alarm for extra peace of mind but it's sad that after thirty or so years here we have had to resort to these measures.

Yours as a much lighter person and one whose anxiety lessens with every pile I put into recycling or take to the charity shop. It's a strange outcome from what could have been a terrifying experience so oddly enough things have turned out quite well.

Regards

Cathy

A Moodscope member.