Collecting vs Hoarding

Collecting: bringing or gathering things together
Hoarding: a large accumulation of something valuable to someone that is preserved or guarded

Two days ago, we were given a paper and asked to answer one of the questions stated on the paper in a blog post. The question I chose was to explain the difference between collecting and hoarding. The reason we were asked questions about collecting is because we were talking about how certain artists, like Andy Warhol, collected numerous things and put them all into cardboard boxes, or "time capsules," and stowed them away. Collections have some sort of connection to the collector, and that is why the collector finds the things in their collection appealing, whether they collect stamps, coins, stuffed animals, rocks, candy wrappers, or whatever else they may collect. A lot of times people don't necessarily know why they started collecting whatever it is they collect; they normally are just drawn to the object naturally and thus decide to start collecting that object. However, there are cases where someone collects so much of something that the person becomes obsessed with the object, and they won't let anyone touch the object or take the object away. This act of compulsive collecting is known as hoarding. Collections may be kept in boxes or on dressers or tables or maybe even in a certain section of or a small room, but it becomes hoarding when the object takes up so much space in one's home that it reaches the ceilings and takes up multiple rooms, and the person or people who live in the home can barely move, because this object takes up all the space. It's okay to collect dolls or coins or rocks or whatever fancies you, but when you have something like rocks piled up to your ceilings, that is when it is time to admit that you are hoarding.