2 Questions To Ask Yourself Before The Year Ends.
You don’t realize how many things you own until you start cleaning, tidying up, and doing the annual spring cleaning. Or — when it’s time to move to a new place and you have only a month to pack everything into boxes. The process is extremely nerve-racking because the more you sort and arrange, the more things appear and you start to wonder if you really need all this. Well, that’s exactly what happened to me, and I’m more than grateful that this year I’ve been able to implement a new way of thinking and living. Not entirely, but I’m working on it. As you may have guessed, this is minimalism.
Earlier this year, when the world suddenly stopped and we all stayed at home for a long, I came across a very interesting and useful YouTube channel. I no longer remember how it all happened, but I do remember how happy and inspired I felt watching all these videos. Two words — Matt D’Avella.
On another occasion, watching documentaries on a completely different topic, I came across his film — Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things — then for the first time the thought of total cleaning, disposal, and removal of things went through my head and managed to hold for long. These guys inspired and motivated me, the stories of the people who live this way made me think about a lot of aspects of my personal life.
I don’t remember chronologically, but maybe then came the moment when I deleted all my social apps from my phone (excluding Facebook & Messenger). Then I said to myself that I want to live this way too. To become a minimalist.
Of course, I have never been a huge supporter or a person who indulges in the extreme of something. I wouldn’t say that I would ever throw away all my memories, photos, writings, notebooks, and so on just to live clean. I would just be happy to attract a lot of the habits, lifestyles, and thinking of these people in my day-to-day life. To be a minimalist my way.
It wasn’t long before that moment came. The moment I had to pack all my clothes, shoes, jackets, blankets, textbooks, notebooks, and other requisites. The process was quite annoying for me because the situation in my head was like I’m on the dunghill and I have to clean up the tons of garbage, but at the same time to check what exactly is garbage and what might be valuable and should be kept. Oh. My. God.
The process of cleaning and disposing of things did not stop just to fix my belongings and everything I have for the new home. In fact, the motivation unfolded in other areas and so I entered a productive mode. Or maybe it’s because I started the Nativity Fast, who knows but I felt really good. Like a buzzing bee.
Success in the morning begins with the plan you made the night before, right? Well, success in 2021 means to put in order 2020 first.
Two questions:
- Do I really need it?
- Does it make me happy?
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing is a book by Marie Kondo. The idea behind the book is whether the thing brings you joy and if the answer is YES, then keep it. I would like to say that it is not only about joy and happiness because I personally have a lot of things that bring me joy but in fact, I do not use them. I simply admire them. I do know that they are beautiful and lovely but actually, deep down I do know that I don’t need them. So here’s where you need to ask yourself is useful or beautiful. Keep in mind this quote from Williams Morris:
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
It’s never too late to immerse yourself in the organizational process.
Start now. Start today.
