It’s a first world problem for sure; perhaps I should
characterize it as a first world opportunity.
I have had for many years two tall (4 drawers each), filing cabinets
filled with, arranged with, abundant with: files, files and more files.
In the beginning the files were in order by drawer, by
category, by frequency of use, by color.
I was always amazed at how efficient the order was and how I could
always find what I was looking for. I was once one of those people that kept
copies of monthly utility bills. I am still one of those people that keeps the
manuals of all major appliances currently in the house. I recently found files
with all the resignation letters I’d ever written. REALLY ?
Yesterday I was surprised, I found a file with my
Kindergarten Diploma from 1965, from the Colegio Internacional de Maria
Inmaculada in Panama. The diploma is
signed by Sor Maria Filipina; I still remember her,everyone was afraid of her.
She was the strictest nun ever and she never smiled.
And yes you can discern from the information above, the
first world opportunity is downsizing, clearing out, discarding, getting rid of
paper, recycling records that I don’t need and for sure won’t travel well to
the next living space I move to. Not
sure when that will be, but I started the process now. Ana is always encouraging me, she is always
clearing out, cleaning out, getting ready for her next move one day.
Actually the tall 4 drawer filing cabinets are being
consigned, their near term future is already planned. I am glad to report that 4
of the 8 drawers have been cleared, most of the documentation shredded or headed
for the circular secure trash bin at Cox, where the papers will get shredded by
large industrial machines before heading to recycle centers.
I recently read a book that was interesting and extremely
insightful about the possessions, the stuff, the objects, the collections, and
the overall clutter we have and accumulate over time in our lives. The book is
translated from Japanese, The
Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I
am not a fan of the title, it diminishes the reality and honesty of what the
book is about and the amazing wealth of knowledge and experience the author
shares.
And certainly it’s not magic, what Kondo shares is a method
that IF subscribed to becomes a way of life.
Can the process and results be liberating and feel like magic, well
maybe so. The book has 1900 plus reviews
on Amazon, it’s sold over 2 million copies and was on the New York Times best
seller list for 25+ weeks. For more
information on the author you can read the recent 2015 article in New York
Magazine. Click on the link that follows.
Marie Kondo wrote this book primarily for a Japanese
audience, for people who generally live in much smaller homes or apartments and
for a culture that values order and place and respect of possessions. My
friend, Pierr, from Seattle recommended the book and I got a used copy for $3
online.
Passages from the book that I underlined:
“Our possessions very
accurately relate the history of the decisions we’ve made in life. Tidying is a
way of taking stock that shows us what we really like”
“The questions of
what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life”.
“That best way to
find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t”.
“The space in which
we live should be or the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were
in the past”.
My travels and time in Ghana certainly prepared me and
actually encouraged me to consider and realize the need to have much less
stuff, especially stuff in drawers that I don’t see and don’t use. Living
in the volunteer quarters at the Kissemah compound for 64 days at the end of
2013, was a significant life lesson for me.
I remember many, many nights after taking my bucket shower and
coming back to the room, looking around and taking inventory of what was in the
room.
A bed, a dresser drawer, a mirror, my suitcases. My clothes mostly in the drawers, and on
hangers behind the door. I used the top
bunk of the of the bunk bed set to keep things readily available: books,
supplies I’d brought for projects, and my shower caddy. In the front section of the room was a love
seat made out of rattan, a single chair and a small table. And that was
it. I brought copies of 8 x 10 photos
and taped them to the wall. I needed pictures of my family and friends
and especially of Maddie and Morgan. I also included one of my favorite photos of Iguazu Falls in Argentina, to keep me cool
on those days and nights when the power was out and any relief from the heat came strictly
from an active imagination.
Stuff – in Ghana the people I stayed with and shared space
with in the compound have very little in way of possessions. And I observed them over and over having
full, happy, vibrant, yet very simple lives.
I remember in the 2013 visit, when I got some wrapping paper out of my
suitcase to wrap a birthday present for Lilian, for when she got home from the
hospital, Stefan, Ceci’s grandson, who was then 12 or 13, had never seen wrapping
paper before.
Yes, it was a roll of wrapping paper with pink designs, flowers,
and birds, pink is Lilian’s favorite color.
Stefan had no idea what I was doing and why would I cover the books with
paper. I had to explain wrapping paper to him. I had a fold out cloth hamper, that was something he'd never seen, I had a very cool tupperware caddy for the daily medications I had to take, he loved that plastic box with the snap on lid and the handle. There were other items, I can't remember.
Ceci’s house, the largest in the compound, the rooms are
simple, they have beds, a dresser, fans, one TV, and the rattan couch. That is
it – no closets, no desks, no filing cabinets, no pantry, no inside kitchen, no
laundry closet, no hall closet, no inside bathroom, no attic, no garage shelves,
none of that.
And all the children we
supported, all their families or caretakers lived in similar set ups, some even
simpler. I stayed in those same
volunteer quarters on six visits and every time after my initial Ghana trip in 2011, the
idea of less stuff always came home with me, loud and clear and present in my
psyche. Less stuff, less space, less
responsibility for things that are taking up space, stored for reasons that in
the past made sense, reasons that today don’t.
So I am on a quest, the office upstairs will lose both of the tall 4
drawer filing cabinets soon. The closet in the loft area is next and then the
closet in the master bedroom downstairs I am saving for when I get home from my
house sitting engagement.
And during
that engagement, I am doing technology house cleaning. My iMAC desktop is
going with me and I am uploading all my Ghana photos to a Tumbler site and all
my personal photos that I want to keep are going to the Apple Cloud. And some will be deleted.
This process is different for all, some never consider it
and that is OK. How we live and what we surround ourselves with is a very personal and individual decision, compounded by many variables, some controllable, some not.
If you have a family, children and relatives living with you,
it’s much more complicated. There is
your stuff, house stuff, their stuff – layers of people, mindsets, needs,
wants, reasons, justifications, it can get complicated.
Certainly I am learning and certainly I am getting acquainted with things I forgot I had, like the Kinder diploma.
I am thankful that most everything I am tidying up as Marie Kondo calls the process, I can recycle, donate and/or consign. And certainly the biggest lesson and daily reminder, I am blessed. I am grateful, I am grateful, I am grateful.
