Marie Kondo = more travel?
One of the best things about travel via airplane is the time to read. There's not enough room to do much on the computer in the cramped quarters, plus there is little privacy, which isn't conducive to my work either, so I either get to uncomfortably catch up on sleep, or more often, read my heart out.
Certain books are now tied to past trips, including Tina Fey's "Bossy Pants" is inexorably linked to Maui, and Susan Ee's "Penryn and the End of Days" is now tied to San Francisco, which was especially exciting because it turned out that is a primary setting for the trilogy. Note to self: try reading more books set in the places I am traveling to.
So, now Palm Beach and tidy, decluttering thoughts are all mixed together. As apparently one of the last people in the country to pick up Marie Kondo's "the life-changing magic of tidying up" I read, and re-read the book during this work trip. I love it when a book hits and resonates, and boy, did this one do that for me.
I won't recap it here, because you can read all the articles on the internet, join one of many Facebook groups, or read the more than 7,000 reviews on Amazon.com (I'm not kidding - there are really that many!). However, if you are starting to ask yourself what does this have to do with travel, it does, I promise. Early in the book, the author asks you to ask yourself why do you want to tidy (i.e. declutter). Then, as I'm about to read on, she instructs to not read any further until you can answer that question.
That was interesting for me, because I usually blow through any reflective parts of books, article, etc. But in this case I put the book down and decided to think more about why I was so interested making this effort. After all, last year I hired a wonderful student, Holly my Home Organizer, who helped me part with some items and put them back more neatly. It helped, but our house still never got near a Zen moment.
Then, I realized what it was. A memory of a friend of mine who came by my apartment in Fayetteville...my first own home ever. I was very proud of it, and had acquired a few select items. It was very spare yet colorful. He looked around and remarked "..it looks like you could pack up and move right now if you wanted to." I'm not sure if he meant it to be a compliment, but to me it was, and he was right, I could have fit most of my possessions in that apartment into my Chevy Caprice Classic (not a small car) and hit the road. So, there it was. I wanted to do this because it would allow me to be more free..to travel.
Not only for the long term (i.e. the eventual downsizing that we hope to do to be more nimble before our big trip), but the day trips or weekend excursions I've been wanting to do more of. Right now, on the weekends I could have any or all of these commitments: orchestra rehearsal, church, tennis drills, and clean up the house (I'm one of the messier ones at home). That's it. That's the weekend. So, I'm dealing with how to free up from my many obligations, but if I could get my main personal items around me to be less....demanding on my time....that would be the final piece.
And so, there we have it. I'm finishing up some current projects and will be free(ish) to start this Sunday afternoon. I've already been practicing my folding, and it actually has already worked to make finding clothes easier, even though I haven't cleaned anything out yet:
So, my feelings will not be hurt if you don't want to read about my organizing, but I think it will be interesting to me personally to do updates along the way, and then in the long term to see if it has actually helped with my goal of more traveling. More to come!
Oh, one more note. I suspect that the translation of "Tidy" from Japanese to English is not completely direct...we might call it decluttering, but I also think there is some meaning there in between. Anyway, I digress. When I was very young, I learned the word 'tidy' because I had read it in a book, and I decided to try out my big new word on my Mom. I announced I was going to go tidy up my room. However, I guessed incorrectly about the way the vowel sounded, so I actually said I was going to "titty"up my room. I'll never forget the look on my Mom's face with that one!
Certain books are now tied to past trips, including Tina Fey's "Bossy Pants" is inexorably linked to Maui, and Susan Ee's "Penryn and the End of Days" is now tied to San Francisco, which was especially exciting because it turned out that is a primary setting for the trilogy. Note to self: try reading more books set in the places I am traveling to.
So, now Palm Beach and tidy, decluttering thoughts are all mixed together. As apparently one of the last people in the country to pick up Marie Kondo's "the life-changing magic of tidying up" I read, and re-read the book during this work trip. I love it when a book hits and resonates, and boy, did this one do that for me.
I won't recap it here, because you can read all the articles on the internet, join one of many Facebook groups, or read the more than 7,000 reviews on Amazon.com (I'm not kidding - there are really that many!). However, if you are starting to ask yourself what does this have to do with travel, it does, I promise. Early in the book, the author asks you to ask yourself why do you want to tidy (i.e. declutter). Then, as I'm about to read on, she instructs to not read any further until you can answer that question.
That was interesting for me, because I usually blow through any reflective parts of books, article, etc. But in this case I put the book down and decided to think more about why I was so interested making this effort. After all, last year I hired a wonderful student, Holly my Home Organizer, who helped me part with some items and put them back more neatly. It helped, but our house still never got near a Zen moment.
Then, I realized what it was. A memory of a friend of mine who came by my apartment in Fayetteville...my first own home ever. I was very proud of it, and had acquired a few select items. It was very spare yet colorful. He looked around and remarked "..it looks like you could pack up and move right now if you wanted to." I'm not sure if he meant it to be a compliment, but to me it was, and he was right, I could have fit most of my possessions in that apartment into my Chevy Caprice Classic (not a small car) and hit the road. So, there it was. I wanted to do this because it would allow me to be more free..to travel.
Not only for the long term (i.e. the eventual downsizing that we hope to do to be more nimble before our big trip), but the day trips or weekend excursions I've been wanting to do more of. Right now, on the weekends I could have any or all of these commitments: orchestra rehearsal, church, tennis drills, and clean up the house (I'm one of the messier ones at home). That's it. That's the weekend. So, I'm dealing with how to free up from my many obligations, but if I could get my main personal items around me to be less....demanding on my time....that would be the final piece.
And so, there we have it. I'm finishing up some current projects and will be free(ish) to start this Sunday afternoon. I've already been practicing my folding, and it actually has already worked to make finding clothes easier, even though I haven't cleaned anything out yet:
 |
| Natural habitat of my shirts... |
 |
| Folding into packages. Why on earth was this so satisfying? |
So, my feelings will not be hurt if you don't want to read about my organizing, but I think it will be interesting to me personally to do updates along the way, and then in the long term to see if it has actually helped with my goal of more traveling. More to come!
Oh, one more note. I suspect that the translation of "Tidy" from Japanese to English is not completely direct...we might call it decluttering, but I also think there is some meaning there in between. Anyway, I digress. When I was very young, I learned the word 'tidy' because I had read it in a book, and I decided to try out my big new word on my Mom. I announced I was going to go tidy up my room. However, I guessed incorrectly about the way the vowel sounded, so I actually said I was going to "titty"up my room. I'll never forget the look on my Mom's face with that one!
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