Finding Joy Through Decluttering and Minimalism
Marie Kondo was right about The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up
For a while there, minimalism was all the rage. Everyone wanted to strip their belongings bare and get to the essentials. Popularized by Marie Kondo, she writes in her best-selling book ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ that we have to declutter our user experience in order to live better lives.
There is simplicity in this. The idea of finding joy by decluttering is a tempting one. In my never-ending quest to rid myself of the hole inside my chest, I thought decluttering would be the next option to try.
So, I got ahold of Marie Kondo’s book and downloaded some guidelines for discarding my personal belongings.
The first step was my clothes. I took my full closet and tossed every shirt on my bed. I pulled out all my drawers and ransacked them for my pants. Once everything was on my bed, I got to work.
Does this one bring me joy? I asked repeatedly as I held each shirt, pair of pants, and dress.
By the time I was done with my clothes, I had cut my wardrobe down by over half. I felt good about this.
‘Look at me finding joy. Haha, look at that, b*tch.’ I felt that by getting rid of my stuff, I was getting closer to nirvana.
I repeated the exercise with my papers. I went through looking at things I needed and things I wanted to keep and grew my recycling bag by a mile.
This was fun, I thought to myself. Getting rid of things of no value to me was cathartic.
I kept the things I needed and organized them in neat piles, making everything so.
In the end, my room had been cleared to the bones. Nothing was left except the essentials: some books, my instruments, journals, and tech, along with minor things like pencils, office supplies, and other nondescript items.
Once it was all said and done with, I plopped down on my bed satisfied. I scanned my body. Did I feel more joyful? I was feeling something positive.
I may have had fewer possessions, but I took pride in my ability to condense to the things that mattered. In the end, it was about where I was placing emphasis in my life.
I realized how much value I was placing on things, rather than people and experiences. I was too consumed by stuff that I couldn’t see where my true priorities lay.
Once I sorted through the clutter, I felt a renewed sense of purpose. It may not have lasted, but it gave me clarity.
Decluttering was never going to fix my life — that I had to do myself. But I did learn more about myself and how I measured my own life’s fulfillment.
It put things in perspective. How many things did I have in life that I didn’t truly enjoy? Things that sucked up space and energy. Marie Kondo was right. Living with less isn’t necessarily what made me happier, but it certainly made me more appreciative.
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