365 Days (Part 2) | ✓

302. Clutter

302. Clutter: Is there a cluttered spot in your home? Go through some of that clutter today and write about what you find or the process of organizing.

There's a popular book out right now called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It’s written by a woman named Marie Kondo, and although I don't personally own it, I have peeked inside several times. There's something incredibly motivating about that book; something that makes you want to haul all of your clutter to Goodwill and start fresh.

I love organizing. There's something about the neatness of it that appeals to me aesthetically. I like the look of crisp clothing hanging by type and color in the closet, of books arranged by height, and of everything firmly in its place.

Minimalism is another thing that I'm coming to be fond of. It’s a bare lifestyle, but minimalism is best described as "the appreciation of space." I like that. It’s calming, it's relaxing, it's less. The more you have, the more responsibility you have, and often that means the more stress you have.

Marie Kondo's approach to decluttering and cleaning is strict and almost brutal. The goal is not to give away as much as you possibly can, but to keep only that which sparks joy. Going through my possessions, I am struck by how many things I keep because it held some obscure memory or because I thought I might have use of it sometime in the future.

Minimalism is also effective in other parts of your life. What is necessary? Keep it. What is unnecessary? Get rid of it.

I've seen it enacted in many different ways. Some people go through their makeup and keep only the essentials. Some people go through their phone and clean it out. Some people do it with their backpack, their car, their diet, their engagements -- there's so many unnecessary things for us.

Personally, one of the easiest things for me to give up was television. When I consider all of my dreams, watching TV seems like a waste of time. I don't mean the news or something educational like documentaries, but everything else. Reality competition shows especially fall under my censure. Why watch these people? After that season is over, you won't think about them anymore. But your time is lost to you forever. You could learn Latin. You could perfect an okra recipe. Television is a time filler. It’s easy and mindless and that's exactly what I don't need in my life.

Think about living a life that only sparks joy? Of course there will always be unsavory things to do. No one wants to wash the dishes or wake up on Monday for work. Imagine everything you do or have because you feel obligated, though. Imagine what that feeling of cleanness would be.