My phone says there’s no more room to take photos. My laptop says the start-up disk is full. My closet is overflowing with clothes. My kitchen has too many plates.
You’ve seen this message on your phone.
I have been sucked into the culture of more. I am embarrassed to say there are over 20,000 photos on my phone, from places I’ve traveled to, to dishes I’ve eaten, to countless inspiration I take screen shots of so this 40-year-old writer won’t forget…
In today’s culture, our solution to reaching capacity to our devices or our storage has been to get the next phone with more memory, or buy a bigger closet.
But this is counter to the logic of being full. When you are full, you don’t add more. You should make room. After finishing several deadlines, I am taking this time to make room. Being neat and orderly is not exactly my strength. So this morning, I turned to Marie Kondo, Japanese organization expert and author of Spark Joy. She was addicted to design magazines and being organized since she was five. (That was the age I got hooked on food magazines and cookbooks). Kondo recommends not organizing by room, but by category ie clothes, books, plates. She suggests starting with the closet, as it has less sentimental attachment than books or things. But the crucial question, Kondo recommends asking with everything you keep is this: “Does it bring you joy?”
Many gifts, no matter how thoughtful the gesture, they don’t bring me joy. They sit in my closet or in my flat not making me happy. If I go through my closet, many don’t fit right or bring me joy, leaving me probably with a handful of dresses I really really like. But that ‘s not a bad thing.
With things and with friends, I realize this, having a handful you’re crazy about is much better than a whole lot you don’t really care for.
So off I go, back to touching my things and asking if it brings me joy. Hand me more garbage bags, this woman is on mission. It’s also time to purge my phone and computer of files no longer needed, or photos I don’t want.
As the year ends, don’t fill up your full with more. It’s time to make room. When you want something to enter your life, you better make sure there’s room for it. So here we go….
Maida’s Touch: Feeding Restless Appetites
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