Having real feelings for objects, it really is not right

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I recently had to throw away a copy of "The Silmarillion" that I had owned for many years. It was a paperback, and was falling apart from having been read so many times. It made me cry a little to see it in the trash because I thought it was so sad to see it discarded that way after all the joy it had brought me and it made me feel disloyal because it simply couldn't be saved. As for getting rid of my daughters old stuffed animals (or mine); may never happen.

I do this too. But I don't hate it, it just is what it is. I have learned to not be too emotional about objects, but the discomfort is still there.

I couldn't rehome my cuddly toys for years and they remained at my Mum's house for years. Cuddly toys resemble animals so it seems cruel somehow. I feel sad if I see a dirty abandoned toy on the street that a child has dropped and will not be reunited with.

I'm nuts!

My husband is battling to replace our bedroom TV and DVD player etc. I got it 14 years ago when I was 16 and was the first big purchase I chose to buy without my parents having an input. It still works (well the off timer is broken!) so being very stubborn and emotionally attached to it. It is quite fat but is portable and has a carrying handle and is quite robust. I have come up with the idea of using a plug socket timer switch to turn it off in the middle of the night. I thought this was genius but my husband is less impressed as wants a new TV- a new gadget to play with for a few weeks.

I have just created 2 giant piles of degree and PhD notes for going into the loft. I can't throw them out in case I ever want to look at them. I feel after 10 years I can move them as now have my first graduate job that won't use them. I did realise that I have not looked at the undergrad ones in 10 years so maybe they can move from a bookshelf to the loft. Actually destroying them is an entirely different step. The text books are staying.

I have feelings for my Flushed Away figures that I brought to my parents place with me. I was going to play with them with my niece, but I forgot about them.

I don't really get this way as much any more, with exception to my cuddly toys. Even so much as threaten to give one away and I will be mad! When I was younger, however I had many bizarre attachments to objects. One time my Mum was about to cut up a lemon in the kitchen. I felt sorry for the lemon and 'kidnapped' it. I hid it under my bed for about four weeks, then my Mum found it, but it really didn't look like a lemon any more so I let her 'bury' it...

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

I have a collection of plastic bottle tops which I look after on top of my microwave. I think I started to keep them as I felt sorry that they were now separated from their bottles which go to recycling.
I also cannot pass by an item in the supermarket that has been dumped in the wrong place, I have to return it to its friends in the correct isle.

The psychologist who diagnosed my AS said that this is a trait of OCD.

I get emotionally attached to objects, and anthropomorphize them. If I actually bang a dish when washing it, before I can catch myself I say "ouch!" and then apologize to the dish.

I also get upset when people mistreat objects, but I don't consider it a "bad" thing by any means. I consider it an antidote to disposable culture and surrogate development (aka: stuff I hate.)

If I have a tool for example (like a power drill,) after useing it I will carefully set it down. When done with that project, I will clean it off. Guarantee that it will have a long and productive life. If it breaks, I will take it apart and fix it. I try not to buy anything that cannot be fixed and sustained. (note: I'm obsessed with taking things apart and fixing them. "Take me to your toaster!").

This is far preferable to throwing it on the ground or letting it rust and then just buying another one when it breaks.

Plus, I have an eidetic tactile memory. When I hold a specific object, I can recall the muscle memory of every time I have ever used that one object, which often trigger visual or verbal memories as well. So specific objects are a very real link to accessing many of my memories from periods in my life. I lost my favorite stuffed animal to evil dogs a couple years ago and was crushed. We went through a lot of things together for about 30 years. I lost a crucial direct memory/emotional link to my childhood.

So I don't feel bad or guilty about about having emotional attachment to objects. Not at all.

Wen I was little, I had feelings for my stuffed animals. Reading The Velveteen Rabbit didn't help any.

Frances

I definitely have strong emotional affection to all kind of inanimate objects. I also have problems with getting rid of many now useless things like my postrgrad notes and books. My TV is actually about 15 years old (I won't replace it since I don't watch TV any more at home), VCR is 11, computer is 8, I have old amplifiers and stuff like that, but my personal favorites are a 42 years old R2R tape recorder, one of the most valued objects that links me to my childhood and a carpet (right now I'm on it sitting in a chair curled up) which is the same that was in my room when I was a toddler. I have feelings for my stuffed animals, too.

I still have my room at my parents', and I have some of my old stuff right there. Sometimes I wonder how my parents can manage to tolerate my weirdness...

I KNOW this sounds really child-like, but watching films like Toy Story actually makes me feel worse because I actually believe it.

....Now I feel sorry for Toy Story for saying that. Ooohhhh, it's never ending!

I'm neurotypical but I know what you mean. Even I sometimes get attached to objects. But my dad used to say that there are millions of objects being thrown out every single day around the world, and some of them might be the most cuddly, cutest teddy you would ever see, or the most shiniest brass ornament you would ever see, and so on. So you've just got to think that.

I know some people might 'feel sorry' for an apple when you're eating it, but just remember, billions of apples are being eaten every day, and thats what apples grow for, and thats what apples are sold for. Theyre not for to be thrown away in the bin going rotton, or be thrown in tempers. They're for to be eaten.

I can't imagine why having real feelings for objects is wrong. They feel alive to me, why would this not be "right?"