It has been a while, as always.
I have been meaning to share my KonMari experience but opportunity to creatively write has been scarce, as always.
A year ago, I was in a coffee shop where I overheard a man say to someone who was reading, “Be careful with that book. You might end up throwing away all your things.” With that remark, I ended up faking my need to go to the restroom just so I can pass by the reading man’s table and take a peek at the book’s title. This is how I met “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo.
I read the book diligently. Taking every word seriously like it was a bible. And at some point, without any purpose of being blasphemous and just for the sake of using a strong description, I actually took the book as a bible. I obeyed everything that was written in there. If I were to review the literature, I’ll simply say the book lived up to its title.
It took me almost a week to tidy-up my belongings the KonMari way. As the saying goes, change does not happen overnight. In the end of my tidying up journey, I had 5 garbage bags full of things I am ready to discard. The journey was not easy but it was enjoyable and a little spiritual, in my unplugged opinion; but the end-point, it was the end-point that’s fascinating. I did felt like my life in general, not only my belongings, was in order. I breathe heaven’s air after the KonMari journey.
The book easily became my favorite next to Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother.
One of my two garbage bags full of things ready to discard.
This book opened my eyes on how putting things literally in order has an effect in our life. But more than that, my favorite newly discovered knowledge was about letting go.
I have never heard anyone say letting go is easy; simply because it is not. I believe letting go is a step to growing up, not moving on. I believe we are like trees, and letting go is the process of trimming down the dead branches in order to allow life to spring. I saw this perspective with the simple but clever KonMari way on how to store clothes. Try this: hang all your clothes with the hanger hook faced towards you. Then, every time you will use a certain clothing, hang it the opposite way. In that manner, you will be able to monitor the clothes you have not been wearing and anything that has not been used for at least a month is ready for discarding. Believe me, you will be surprised how many clothes eat up your closet space which could be of better use for storing new clothes that you can actually wear. Say goodbye to days of feeling you have nothing to wear while your closet is overflowing.
The process of letting go my belongings made me reflect how it is also possible to let go of dead weight in my life, which were in forms of relationships, contacts, vices, and even feelings. I realized that if I can discard a box of books (which I thought were my life), why can I not discard my useless anger or hate for someone? Oh I can; even without forgiving. Sometimes, we do not need to forgive in order to forget. We can let go and that’s just it.
The world is full of many great opportunities but we cannot attract positivity if we will not let go of the dead weight we buried so deep within us. How can we open our door to let the light in if it is obstructed by so much clutter?
Me 