The KonMari method of tidying up is nothing short of a phenomenon. So says the more than 10 Million books sold.

It changed my life years ago when I read Marie Kondo’s book about letting things go that don’t spark joy. Then I re-read it. Then I proceeded to purge practically a tractor-trailer’s worth of bags filled with clothes, shoes, kitchen stuff, papers, anything that wasn’t nailed down.

I do it all over again, occasionally, when I feel like my life and my space is getting a bit bloated. When things get cluttered and pile up around me, I feel claustrophobic.

I honestly don’t know where it starts. Maybe it’s as simple as liking a tidy space, and when that space gets out of control, it triggers something in my brain to feel just as messy.

Or perhaps my mind gets cluttered first and I project that onto the space around me. And that sparks my need to purge and minimalize the things in my path. Maybe that’s my way of coping with what’s jostling around in my head.

That must be why the KonMari method speaks to so many people. It’s not just about things. Not at all. When I really evaluate the stuff I’ve accumulated I’m forced to confront the reason why I have them. Did I buy those things for me, or the person I thought I should be? Check out this post for a list of things I KonMari out of my closet and what you should ask yourself to KonMari your way to a more authentic life.

So why not make KonMari about more than what’s in your closet and your kitchen cabinets? Why not apply the concept to your life?

Evaluate what really sparks joy for you, in what you surround yourself with, what you let live inside your mind and who you spend your precious time with.

I haven’t been shy about my love for Marie Kondo’s life changing magic of tidying up, called KonMari.

The basic premise is to let things got that don’t spark joy in your life. Literally everything in your house… from clothes and toiletries to papers and pictures. You lay all like things out together in a big pile and hold each piece in your hands and make a decision about their place in your life.

It’s a process that can be down-right liberating, like lifting literal and emotional weight off your shoulders. I’ve used Kondo’s methods to purge things that I bought for someone I’m not. And things I was holding on to for someone I don’t really want to be. Check out What I’m KonMari-ing Out Of My Closet in this post.

But guess what? That literal weight has to go somewhere. And the one thing I wish Kondo covered more, is what to do with all of it after you’ve decided it doesn’t belong in your life.

So, by now I’m sure you’ve heard of Marie Kondo and her KonMari method of tidying up. But in case you just got sprung from a convent or a cult or a cave… I’ll break it down a little for you.

The basic premise is to let things got that don’t spark joy in your life. Literally everything in your house… from clothes and toiletries to papers and pictures. You lay all like things out together in a big pile and hold each piece in your hands and make a decision about their place in your life.

Nearly two years ago I did what I previously thought was unthinkable.

I walked away from my career.

For someone who has worked and hustled for everything I’ve had since I was 15, it was an adjustment, to say the least.

I’ve learned a lot about what not to do as a new stay-at-home mom.

Thankfully, I’ve finally learned a lot of healthy things to do as well.

And even though I traded boardrooms for carpool…

And spreadsheets for bake sales…

There are a lot of similarities between corporate life and stay-at-home mom life. (more…)

Eyesight really is the first to go. Or is that memory? I can’t remember.

But my eyesight is going. I went 40 years with perfect vision then BOOM!.. I’m blind. I have to pull things so far away from my face to read, they might as well be in the other room.

So I recently got my first pair of reading glasses. And I’m much less excited about looking smarter than I am sad that it’s not a fashion statement, I really need them.

It’s probably a coincidence this happened right around my 40th birthday. But it was sort of a double whammy of age creeping up that I wasn’t at all prepared for. (more…)