A review by isabellarobinson7
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo
2.0
Rating: 2 stars
I am messy. There is no way to sugar coat that. My bedroom is a pig sty, as my Mum is so fond of saying, and the first chapter of Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up had me really excited and got my hopes up that I could maintain some sort of tidiness. Unfortunately, this was not the case. But I do not place the blame on Marie Kondō and her book, more my strictly literal interpretation of it.
I was quite confused by the amount of feeling Kondō had towards her items. As far as I know, socks do not protest to being balled up and folded in on themselves, nor did they need a rest after a days hard work. I also find it hard to believe that you can "ask your house" and if will actually reply to find out whether you should keep something or not.
Now I am going to attack the core of the KonMari method: choosing to keep something because it sparks joy. I have a problem with this because of the complete ambiguity of the word joy. I understand the appeal this system brings to people, because of its simplicity, level of applicability and ease in application, but I find it hard to grasp how it could be effective for me personally. At its core, "joy" merely means a feeling of pleasure and happiness, but in what way? What kind of joy warrants the keeping of something? It is probably a pedantic qualm about something so utterly simple, and I really should not over think the most basic of principles and needlessly complicate the uncomplicated.
Again, and I can't stress this enough, I am sure Marie Kondō is a life saver for some people, but for whatever reason not for me. Apparently, I am doomed to a life of untidiness. Sigh.
I am messy. There is no way to sugar coat that. My bedroom is a pig sty, as my Mum is so fond of saying, and the first chapter of Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up had me really excited and got my hopes up that I could maintain some sort of tidiness. Unfortunately, this was not the case. But I do not place the blame on Marie Kondō and her book, more my strictly literal interpretation of it.
I was quite confused by the amount of feeling Kondō had towards her items. As far as I know, socks do not protest to being balled up and folded in on themselves, nor did they need a rest after a days hard work. I also find it hard to believe that you can "ask your house" and if will actually reply to find out whether you should keep something or not.
Now I am going to attack the core of the KonMari method: choosing to keep something because it sparks joy. I have a problem with this because of the complete ambiguity of the word joy. I understand the appeal this system brings to people, because of its simplicity, level of applicability and ease in application, but I find it hard to grasp how it could be effective for me personally. At its core, "joy" merely means a feeling of pleasure and happiness, but in what way? What kind of joy warrants the keeping of something? It is probably a pedantic qualm about something so utterly simple, and I really should not over think the most basic of principles and needlessly complicate the uncomplicated.
Again, and I can't stress this enough, I am sure Marie Kondō is a life saver for some people, but for whatever reason not for me. Apparently, I am doomed to a life of untidiness. Sigh.