Have you seen the Marie Kondo series on Netflix? Or maybe you read the book ‘the life-changing magic of tidying up’ – did you try it? It’s a very big deal to tidy in the way she suggests, the main difference between her method and the standard ‘one room at a time’ method is she asks you to confront the totality of your belongings and really see how much you own. And fold things into rectangles that stand up!
I tried the Kon-Mari method when I was ready to box up my maternity clothes…’until next time’. It can be staggering to see every single item of clothing you own, gathered from off-season basement storage, to coatroom closet, to everyday closet, those hidden in the back ‘when I’m skinny again’ clothes, the under-bed storage boxes, all dresser drawers and anywhere else you may stash clothes… picture that for yourself. Are you overwhelmed yet? I certainly was!
That emotional response is only the starting point. Most of us have no idea in reality, how much we actually own… that overwhelm feeling can give you a visceral response… this is too much! Where do I start to deal with this? How did I get here? Why did I buy all this stuff? I have at least 20 black tops! Why? Then Marie offers you her signature question, take each item and ask yourself, ‘does this spark joy?’ If the answer is yes, you keep it and if not, you thank it for being in your life and say goodbye – on it goes to either another life after donation or trash. Either way, you no longer have your energy tied up in maintaining space for this thing. You are now free of it. Sounds good right? Who doesn’t want more freedom? More space?
Once you are done with clothes, you similarly address all other categories of ‘stuff’ in your home. This method is extreme tidying. It is a huge commitment of time and effort and in my opinion, only works if everyone in the household is on board. The idea here is that you now learn what ‘sparks joy’ for you and commit to keeping only those items in your space that you know
It’s a well-known fact that many lottery winners, return to their original income level or worse, declare bankruptcy 3-5 years after a huge multi-million dollar win. (Google it). The thing is if you didn’t have good financial habits before winning, that knowledge doesn’t come with the money.
Just like most dieters tend to put on all the weight they had lost and in most cases, even more than that. So what makes extreme tidying any different? I hope that the person going through this ‘tidying’ method learned to ask the ‘do you spark joy’ question for every item that entered their home afterward and acted accordingly. I suspect that in reality, it’s not always easy to ditch the anniversary gift from your in-laws that
Just like any desired change in your life, to make a change stick for the long-term, you have to be willing to make the same decision over and over again… day in and day out, to create consistency, to build a habit. As well as learning the new method, what helps can be to plug into a community of like-minded folks, especially at the beginning, who are also working daily to make that change stick… like Weight Watchers, Alcoholics Anonymous, keto recipe groups, runners clubs, New Moms groups, women who want to be politicians or people who want to be supported through the process of creating a lasting habit… it’s not once and done… sharing stories, advice
Successfully making a long-term change means creating a lifestyle that you love, that you are willing to work at to sustain, that’s worth it to you, to put in the consistent effort to create your life your way and continue to live it that way. To design your dream life and make it a reality. If this sounds good to you, let me know in the comments… I am always interested to hear your thoughts and comments on creating long term, sustainable change in your life.
I could also be putting something together that could help you start your journey to designing a life you love or sticking with that journey if you have not had the support along the way to make your dream life a reality, yet. 😉
If this sounds of interest, I invite you to join my facebook group Inhabit Success Lifestyle, to engage in daily conversations and receive support for the dream life you want to design and create. Yes, it takes some effort… but isn’t your one precious life worth some effort?