The Coronavirus pandemic is, unfortunately, still ongoing. Last week, I explained why and how we’re manifesting this experience, both globally and individually. But this week, I’d like to tackle one of the stranger effects of this pandemic: hoarding behavior. Specifically, the hoarding of toilet paper. I mean, it doesn’t really make LOGICAL sense, does it? COVID-19 is not an intestinal virus. It doesn’t give you diarrhea. It doesn’t make you soil yourself. The symptoms are respiratory, so you sneeze and cough and maybe you get a fever. No extra pooping is involved. And even if there was, it still wouldn’t justify needing 200 times more toilet paper than usual.

So, why are so many people across the whole planet choosing to hoard toilet paper? While the foodstuffs we’re hoarding differ from country to country and culture to culture, the whole world has one thing in common: the hoarding of freaking toilet paper. Why?

This question was really bugging me, and I know I’m not the only one. So, I set the intention to figure it out, and today, I’d like to share with you what I came up with. We’re going to take a look at what kind of energy inspires hoarding behavior, in general, why we’re all hoarding toilet paper, specifically, and what we can do about this underlying cause.

Transcript

The Coronavirus pandemic is, unfortunately, still ongoing. Last week, I explained why and how we’re manifesting this experience, both globally and individually. But this week, I’d like to tackle one of the stranger effects of this pandemic: hoarding behavior. Specifically, the hoarding of toilet paper. I mean, it doesn’t really make LOGICAL sense, does it? COVID-19 is not an intestinal virus. It doesn’t give you diarrhea. It doesn’t make you soil yourself. The symptoms are respiratory, so you sneeze and cough and maybe you get a fever. No extra pooping is involved. And even if there was, it still wouldn’t justify needing 200 times more toilet paper than usual.

So, why are so many people across the whole planet choosing to hoard toilet paper? While the foodstuffs we’re hoarding differ from country to country and culture to culture, the whole world has one thing in common: the hoarding of freaking toilet paper. Why?

This question was really bugging me, and I know I’m not the only one. So, I set the intention to figure it out, and today, I’d like to share with you what I came up with. Maybe this will bring you some clarity. Or maybe you’ve got your own theories about the causes of TP hoarding. 

To answer this question, we have to take a look at hoarding behavior in general, and what toilet paper, specifically, represents.

Why Do People Hoard?

Why do people hoard at all? While every person is different and will have their own, unique, specific reasons for doing what they do, we can look at the general, energetic motivations of this type of behavior. Hoarding, first and foremost, is a response to fear. Again, the specific fears one is reacting to will differ from person to person, but overall, hoarding is a soothing behavior. It gives us a sense of control when we don’t feel that we have any. It’s not a logical response. As we can see in this Coronavirus situation, hoarding toilet paper, specifically, doesn’t actually help. The average American uses about 2 rolls of toilet paper a week, or 100 rolls per year. So, a big pack from Costco will generally last one person for 6 months. A family of 4, who stocks up on 1000 rolls of toilet paper, is now set for 2.5 years. Not weeks. Years. And at least in the U.S., this is in a country that produces its own TP, in other words, it’s not imported, and which doesn’t actually have a shortage of the stuff. The only thing that’s broken down is that we can’t get it to the stores fast enough to keep up with this sharp and artificial increase in demand. People aren’t suddenly using more toilet paper, they don’t NEED more toilet paper, and yet, they’re buying it like it’s going extinct.

So, no, it’s not logical. Hoarding never is. Hoarding behavior is never about actually stocking up on critical things. It’s about going way above and beyond what’s needed or even understandable. So, you end up with 20 years’ worth of newspapers and magazines. Or a house full of garbage. Or… an entire garage full of toilet paper.

If this was just an American phenomenon, I’d point out that North Americans are kind of a hoarder-y people. People in this region of the world have a lot of stuff. It’s very typical here to have a garage so full of stuff that you can’t fit your car in there anymore. The storage unit business is booming as people with houses, multiple bedroom houses and two car garages need to rent extra space for all their stuff. And they hang on to that stuff for years, often not even knowing what they have any more. So, obviously this is a popular soothing behavior around here. And where there’s soothing, there’s fear.

But, even in countries where people have small apartments, no garages and no storage units, where hoarding isn’t really a thing at all, there is still the hoarding of toilet paper. So, obviously, we need to look at the bigger picture.

Something is being soothed. But what, exactly?

This has happened before

The hoarding of toilet paper isn’t actually a new thing. It’s happened before, several times.

In 1973, for example, Americans were already worrying about limited supplies of products like gasoline, electricity and onions. A government press release warning of a potential shortage in toilet paper led to a lot of press coverage but no outright panic buying until Johnny Carson, a famous late-night television host, joked about it during his opening monologue. Instead of laughing, people took it seriously and began to hoard toilet paper. Thanks Johnny!

So, obviously, toilet paper is somehow linked to some kind of primal fear or soothing in most of humans, even though no caveman or woman ever had access to the stuff. Even younger generations who may never have experienced any kind of real shortages, as my grandparents did after World War II for example, feel safer with a large supply of the old TP.

Why TP??

So, why toilet paper of all things? Well, I have a theory. And I’d like to thank my good friend and powerhouse energy teacher Tina Ananda for sharing her insights with me on this topic. So, here it is:

Again, we can acknowledge that generally, hoarding is a response to fear. Well, fear is very prevalent in our world right now, for obvious reasons. People are getting sick, and some are dying. Many people can’t work right now. We’re worried about our loved ones. We don’t know what’s going to happen, how bad it will get or how long it will last. Will the economy collapse? Will we survive? Are we going to be ok?

These aren’t just fears; they’re existential fears. This is about survival. If you know anything about chakras, the major energy centers in the body, this next bit will make a lot of sense to you. If you’re not familiar with chakras, I can’t fully explain them in this video, because that’s a huge topic. Just know that they’re the major energy centers in the body through which our energy flows. There are 7 major chakras along your spine, and these regulate the flow of spiritual energy throughout your body, with each chakra being responsible for a different area of your body, as well as different types of beliefs. Many teachers will describe these energy centers as spinning disks or wheels, but for me, it’s all about frequencies. Chakras are programmed to hold certain frequencies. When these frequencies are all perfectly balanced, the human body and energy body are also in balance. This means, there is perfect health, strength, and spiritual clarity. You feel good physically, emotionally and spiritually. When the frequencies are off or not balanced, Chakras can distort the incoming and outgoing energies and the system – your body and energy body, will suffer as a result. This can create emotional pain as well as physical illness. So, chakras are kind of important.

The first or “root” chakra, sits at the base of your spine. There’s no politically correct way to say this, so I’m just gonna go for it. If you wanted to point directly at the root chakra, you’d be pretty much pointing at your perineum, or taint. You know, the area between your genitals and your butthole. That’s the area that houses the root chakra.

Your root chakra is related to your feelings of safety and security, particularly existential safety and security. In other words, whenever we’re talking about survival, the root chakra’s going to be involved. And since this crisis is bringing up survival fears in everyone, we’ve got a whole lot of root chakras having issues.

When there’s fear, it means that the frequency of the root chakra is not balanced. It’s a bit out of whack. Now, chakras aren’t just connected to certain fears or beliefs, they’re also connected to their surrounding body parts. And what’s right next to the perineum? As already mentioned, the butthole. And what do we do with the butthole? We go to the bathroom!

Now, if you’re thinking, “Well that’s a total oversimplification of the root chakra”, you’d be right. It is. But don’t worry, I’m not done and I promise it will make sense.

Because of this connection between safety and the lower part of the body, it makes sense that we would all have some basic representations in common. For example, for most people, soiling oneself would represent pretty much the ultimate or at least close to the ultimate way of losing control. Dying is always the number one way, obviously. But, we know that we can’t control death, so we look for any other way to gain control that will soothe that root chakra. And that’s where toilet paper comes in.

We’re afraid of being out of control. Even though shitting our pants isn’t really a logical thing to be afraid of in this situation, we are fearing for our lives, our safety and/or our future. There’s an existential fear that’s kicking off our root chakras and needs to be soothed. And universally, we want to soothe this by controlling a process directly related to that area of the body. And that, ladies and gentlemen is why we’re hoarding and why we’re specifically hoarding toilet paper.

What can we do?

So, now that we’ve explored the cause, is there anything we can do about it? Well yes! Several things actually.

1. The first and most important thing you can do is to be aware of your own fears. Explore them. Don’t suppress your feelings! Unexplored and unexpressed fears lead to soothing behaviors like hoarding. So, face your fears! Talk them through with your partner, or journal them out. Expressing them in some way will help you get clarity. The most important thing, however, is that you allow yourself to FEEL the fear. Don’t just talk about it. Experience it. That’s what gets the energy moving and will allow your chakra to return to balance.
2. Do some grounding exercises. If you can go outside, walk around barefoot in grass or dirt. Literally feel the earth beneath your feet. Do this consciously. Be in the moment and connect. Or, and you can do this anywhere, imagine your feet growing roots, which dig deep into the earth. All the way to the center of the earth. Feel yourself burrowing deeper into the rich, dark soil, and into the solid rock. Let it steady you. If you’re ever feeling really wiggy and perhaps disassociated from reality (this is somewhat normal when you’re waking up), take a shower. Running water can help to ground you as well, which will cut through the fog.
3. Be aware that fear is contagious. So is love, but fear is more contagious. This means that when you go to the store and you see the toilet paper isle empty, and you see people buying way more than they need, it can easily get you to hoard, too. Now, you’re not just afraid of dying or getting sick, you’re afraid of the effects of other people’s actions. Watching others panic buying can make you question if you’re insane for not doing the same thing. Will you be left behind with cupboards devoid of food or toilet paper but full of the moral high ground? Stay strong and remind yourself that you manifest your own reality. So, why would you manifest scarcity? There is plenty of supply, the shelves will be restocked, and online stores are also available. There is no shortage of goods, only a blip in the supply chain and there’s more, much more, on the way. Supermarkets aren’t worried. In fact, they’re having a ball.
4. Think of others. Hoarding is a survival behavior and it actually leads to artificial scarcity. And that, as we discovered, leads to more hoarding. It becomes a vicious cycle. But hoarding is also incredibly selfish. Because ultimately, what a hoarder is saying is that they’d rather have much, much more than they need, often more than they could ever use, than let someone else have even a little. It doesn’t matter if that other person actually needs this little bit. No, you can’t have 2 rolls of toilet paper. I need all 2000 of mine! But what if you’re the one who can’t get what they need because someone else hoarded? Now, you might be tempted to get angry at the others who are hoarding. After all, if they weren’t doing it, no one would have to, right? Well, wrong. Remember that you create your own reality. So, you can live in a survival reality where it’s every man and woman for themselves. Or, you can live in a reality where there’s plenty. It’s your choice. What you can’t do is hoard just in case, in other words, act like there’s scarcity, and still experience a plentiful reality. You either live here or you don’t. Don’t use the behavior of others to determine which reality you have to live in. It’s your choice. But you can’t hedge your bets. You can’t half ass this. Decide which reality you’re in and BE THERE as much as you can. Choose it over and over again. Feel the abundance. You have what you need. You have plenty. It will be alright.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my little dissection of why people are so prone to hoarding toilet paper these days. Do you agree with my theories? If not, what do you think the cause is? Let me know in the comments!

And, don’t forget that we opened up a positive, Law of Attraction based Coronovirus group on Facebook last week, and it’s already become an incredible place. We share funny memes and positive stories allowing us to see the best of humanity. But it’s also a space where you can express your emotions safely and get whatever help you need. From cyber hugs to some LOA advice. Not only do we have hundreds of like-minded members in the group, but I’ve also asked my team of coaches and students to come in and help out and support the group with love and light. If you haven’t yet joined the group, why not check us out? I’ll post the link in the description below, or right below the video, on my blog.

Until next time, hang in there, and thank you for bringing your light to the world!