I’m not a super trendy person. But every now and again pop culture and what’s good for me coincide. So I jumped on the KonMari band wagon.
I was introduced to Marie Kondo’s tidying method through Facebook. Friends posted about her, showing their own successes. I finally went and watched some of her Netflix show and got an even better feel for the system. And then I bought and read her book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
I wouldn’t have expected to be enthralled by a book about cleaning, but I read that book so quickly! After being in a funk since at least late last year, life-changing sounded pretty good to me. I set my sights on the end of the school year.
I started phase one of the system on Tuesday: clothes. I knew this would be pretty easy for me. I’ve already been mentally going through all of my clothes, and I pretty much knew what I’d keep and get rid of. There was some guilt in getting rid of a dress I’d only worn once. But I’d rather that dress go to someone who will actually use it instead of it hanging lifelessly in my closet.
The first step of the KonMari method is to gather all of your clothes into one place. Don’t skip this. It’s hard to get an idea of the sheer mass of stuff you have until it’s all in a pile. Look how shocked Vélo looks in the picture!!
Then you pick up each item. If it’s something that brings you joy, you keep it! And for clothes, I felt it. Some things I was definitely meh about. And some I felt a little spark of excitement about them. If it’s something that no longer serves you, that you’ll be getting rid of, you thank it for its service and set it aside. Some things I thanked that I’d had with me for a really long time. Some things I thanked that I’d barely worn. (I’m not getting peer-pressured into buying anymore school shirts in the future…)
All-in-all I thanked 3 trash bags worth of clothes and sent them, hopefully to a new home. I am aware of what more often happens to donated clothes. And moving into the future I’ll be much more mindful of the clothes I consume so that I don’t keep contributing to that. But in the mean time…
Today I did phase 2 of the KonMari method: books. This was much harder for me. Probably because I get really attached to books. And I still have more than I really want to have. I’ll probably go through them again tomorrow and weed out those books that only bring about a minimal amount of joy. Marie Kondo recommends getting the collection down to 30 books. I haven’t officially counted, but I’m way over. Some are work books though…
I’m convinced the meditation retreat I went to helped me move energy that had been stagnant for a while. I felt very stuck in a variety of ways in my life. Now I feel like I’m in the flow again. Doing this deep apartment cleaning is further helping me unblock that stagnant energy. It’s helping me identify what brings joy in my life. It’s helping remind me that the things that don’t bring me joy don’t have to be obstacles to my happiness.
Maybe Marie Kondo’s right: tidying up can be life changing!