{"id":8336,"date":"2019-02-19T00:50:10","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T00:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=8336"},"modified":"2019-04-08T00:37:23","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T00:37:23","slug":"spark-joy-in-which-a-novelist-applies-the-ideas-of-konmari-to-his-entire-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/spark-joy-in-which-a-novelist-applies-the-ideas-of-konmari-to-his-entire-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Spark Joy: In Which a Novelist Applies the Ideas of KonMari to His Entire Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspired by my orga\u00adniz\u00ading genius wife, I recent\u00adly watched the pro\u00adgram Tidy\u00ading Up<\/i> with Japan\u00adese orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion guru Marie Kon\u00addo. In the pro\u00adgram and in her books (The Life-Chang\u00ading Mag\u00adic of Tidy\u00ading Up<\/i> and Spark Joy<\/i>), Kon\u00addo explains the neces\u00adsi\u00adty of keep\u00ading in our lives only those objects that \u201cspark joy\u201d for us. If an object does not spark joy for us, Kon\u00addo says, we need to thank it for its time with us and let it go. Kondo\u2019s method\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy is called Kon\u00adMari<\/i>, and it\u2019s not new. Orga\u00adniz\u00ading experts like my wife have under\u00adstood this idea for years.<\/p>\n

Any\u00adone who knows my wife knows that she is incred\u00adi\u00adbly<\/i> orga\u00adnized. Her work office per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly looks like she was just hired or fired. Since we\u2019ve been mar\u00adried, although we\u2019ve only ever lived in small apart\u00adments, my wife has been a mas\u00adter at elim\u00adi\u00adnat\u00ading clut\u00adter and devel\u00adop\u00ading sys\u00adtems to keep our things<\/i> con\u00adtained, acces\u00adsi\u00adble and effi\u00adcient. It\u2019s one of the many things about her I\u2019ve come to real\u00adly admire.<\/p>\n

This past week\u00adend, my wife and I \u201cKon\u00adMari-ed<\/em>\u201d our entire apart\u00adment. Fol\u00adlow\u00ading Marie Kondo\u2019s method\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy, we began with cloth\u00ading, then our books (a library of 1,500+ vol\u00adumes), then papers, then komono<\/em> (basi\u00adcal\u00adly every\u00adthing else in the house), and final\u00adly sen\u00adti\u00admen\u00adtal items. When we were fin\u00adished, hav\u00ading only kept those items that spark joy for us and reor\u00adga\u00adnized them, I felt a deep sense of calm and peace.<\/p>\n

Besides watch\u00ading Marie Kondo\u2019s TV pro\u00adgram, I\u2019ve been read\u00ading a Kon\u00addo par\u00ado\u00addy enti\u00adtled The Life Chang\u00ading Mag\u00adic of Not Giv\u00ading a F*ck<\/i><\/a>, as well as a book about the new Japan\u00adese Min\u00adi\u00admal\u00adism enti\u00adtled Good\u00adbye, Things<\/i><\/a>\u2014in which the author argues for only hav\u00ading in your life those objects you absolute\u00adly need<\/i>. Admit\u00adted\u00adly, this idea is a bit too extreme for me. Do I real\u00adly need <\/i>my orig\u00adi\u00adnal Bar\u00adry Manilow and Bil\u00adly Joel LPs? No, but I enjoy them.<\/p>\n

For now I\u2019m stick\u00ading with Kondo\u2019s \u201cspark joy\u201d prin\u00adci\u00adple and have decid\u00aded to apply the prin\u00adci\u00adple to all<\/i> aspects of my life: not only phys\u00adi\u00adcal things, but also the peo\u00adple and rela\u00adtion\u00adships in my life; busi\u00adness\u00ades, insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, restau\u00adrants and stores I inter\u00adact with; and per\u00adceived oblig\u00ada\u00adtions from out\u00adside enti\u00adties. I decid\u00aded that from now on, when\u00adev\u00ader I\u2019m con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading an inter\u00adac\u00adtion, I\u2019m going to ask myself, \u201cBased on my pre\u00advi\u00adous expe\u00adri\u00adences, will this inter\u00adac\u00adtion bring joy into my life, or will it only cre\u00adate a new expe\u00adri\u00adence of annoy\u00adance, frus\u00adtra\u00adtion, anger and\/or sad\u00adness?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten days ago, I had an oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to put the \u201cspark joy\u201d prin\u00adci\u00adple into action. I went to a Pough\u00adkeep\u00adsie, NY post office with three box\u00ades of inscribed copies of my books. In the past, I had always been able to get the Media Mail rate (less than \u00bd of the Pri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adty Mail rate) with\u00adout an issue, because the box\u00ades con\u00adtained only books. The box\u00ades I attempt\u00aded to ship on Fri\u00adday also con\u00adtained only books, and<\/i> they were addressed to libraries. For these rea\u00adsons, I thought my box\u00ades would beyond reproach.<\/p>\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, despite hav\u00ading used Media Mail for dozens of ship\u00adments in the past, this time I was informed that my box\u00ades had been flagged for pos\u00adsi\u00adble inspec\u00adtion. Why? Because, the clerk said, peo\u00adple often tried to send non-media items with the Media Mail rate. I point\u00aded out to her that these box\u00ades were addressed to libraries<\/i>; what else could I pos\u00adsi\u00adbly be ship\u00adping to libraries oth\u00ader than<\/i> books or media? When this didn\u2019t con\u00advince her, I told her to open the box and inspect it right there in front of me. She told me she couldn\u2019t, that only \u201csome\u00adone high\u00ader up\u201d was allowed to inspect the box\u00ades.<\/p>\n

So I left with my pack\u00adages, because I wasn\u2019t will\u00ading to have some face\u00adless enti\u00adty maybe<\/i> open my box\u00ades at some unde\u00adter\u00admined date and maybe<\/i> approve them. I left, but not before giv\u00ading them a long-over\u00addue, fes\u00adter\u00ading rant about how it\u2019s pre\u00adcise\u00adly this kind of non\u00adsense that is inex\u00adorably putting the USPS out of busi\u00adness. I stat\u00aded (emphat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, but with\u00adout shout\u00ading) that I have been a reg\u00adu\u00adlar USPS cus\u00adtomer for over 20 years, spend\u00ading hun\u00addreds or thou\u00adsands of dol\u00adlars a year, but no more; from now on, I won\u2019t be buy\u00ading so much as a stamp<\/i> from them. I will nev\u00ader again pay the USPS for any\u00adthing<\/i>. I added that the USPS los\u00ading loy\u00adal cus\u00adtomers like me is their death knell. For a long time they\u2019ve oper\u00adat\u00aded under the delu\u00adsion that they\u2019re the only game in town, but they\u2019re not; \u201cThere\u2019s this new thing out,\u201d I said, glar\u00ading at the postal work\u00aders. \u201cIt\u2019s called the Inter\u00adnet.\u201d Final\u00adly, as I held the door open, let\u00adting the frigid Feb\u00adru\u00adary air gust in, I said to the two employ\u00adees behind the counter, \u201cI hope you\u2019re sav\u00ading for retire\u00adment, because I give the USPS five more years. In five years, you\u2019ll either be out of busi\u00adness entire\u00adly, or the USPS will be a frac\u00adtion of the busi\u00adness it once was.\u201d<\/p>\n

And by the glim\u00admer of fear\u00adful recog\u00adni\u00adtion that shone in the postal work\u00aders\u2019 eyes when they heard my pre\u00addic\u00adtion, I know I\u2019m right.<\/p>\n

E.B. White, writ\u00ading in his barn office over\u00adlook\u00ading the Maine coast.<\/p><\/div>\n

(By the way, if you think my pre\u00addic\u00adtion of the USPS going out of busi\u00adness with\u00adin five years is ridicu\u00adlous, then you don\u2019t know your his\u00adto\u00adry. My mod\u00adel for this pre\u00addic\u00adtion is the his\u00adto\u00adry of the rail\u00adroad in the US. After WWII, all rail service\u2014passenger and freight\u2014declined pre\u00adcip\u00adi\u00adtous\u00adly because of the rise of faster, more con\u00adve\u00adnient alter\u00adna\u00adtives: per\u00adson\u00adal auto\u00admo\u00adbiles, the US Inter\u00adstate sys\u00adtem, and long-haul truck\u00ading. Well, the USPS is like the rail\u00adroad of yes\u00adter\u00adyear, and oth\u00ader ship\u00adping com\u00adpa\u00adnies and the Inter\u00adnet are like those faster, more con\u00adve\u00adnient alter\u00adna\u00adtives. Writ\u00ading in his 1960 essay<\/a> \u201cThe Rail\u00adroad,\u201d E.B. White unequiv\u00ado\u00adcal\u00adly describes the pre\u00adcip\u00adi\u00adtous decline of the rail\u00adroad after the war and presages its even\u00adtu\u00adal near-extinc\u00adtion. And with the speed of infor\u00adma\u00adtion and change today, I con\u00adtend that the decline of the USPS is going to be even more rapid; five years is sure\u00adly too long; it will prob\u00ada\u00adbly be utter\u00adly gone with\u00adin three years.)<\/p>\n

So we now come to the main idea of this blog entry\u2014choosing things that \u201cspark joy\u201d over ones that make me want to bran\u00addish an axe. When I left the U.S. Postal \u201cSer\u00advice\u201d that morn\u00ading, I took my pack\u00adages to Unit\u00aded Par\u00adcel Ser\u00advice (UPS). Yes, I paid about twice what USPS would have charged me with their Media Mail rate, but the excel\u00adlent, serene expe\u00adri\u00adence I had with UPS made the extra cost worth\u00adwhile.<\/p>\n

Instead of being grilled about the con\u00adtents of my box\u00ades or informed that my box\u00ades might<\/i> be inspect\u00aded by some name\u00adless, face\u00adless enti\u00adty; instead of get\u00adting back\u00adtalk from surly, pas\u00adsive-aggres\u00adsive employ\u00adees, I got the fol\u00adlow\u00ading from the UPS clerk: \u201cYes, sir. No, sir. Absolute\u00adly, sir. Here is your track\u00ading num\u00adber, sir. Thank you for your busi\u00adness, sir. Have a great day, sir!\u201d Seri\u00adous\u00adly, the young man must have called me \u201csir\u201d about eight times in two min\u00adutes. It was a pleas\u00adant<\/i> experience\u2014the kind of expe\u00adri\u00adence I hadn\u2019t had with the USPS in a very long time, if ever.<\/p>\n

Apply\u00ading Marie Kondo\u2019s \u201cspark joy\u201d prin\u00adci\u00adple to this sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion, it\u2019s as if USPS was like an old sweater in my clos\u00adet, a sweater which, per her rit\u00adu\u00adal, I took out, laid on my bed, and asked myself, \u201cShould I keep this in my life? Does it spark joy<\/i> for me?\u201d The answer was, \u201cHell <\/i>no.\u201d The sweater was old and torn, had inex\u00adplic\u00ada\u00adble stains on it, and didn\u2019t fit me any\u00admore. In ret\u00adro\u00adspect I see why I\u2019d kept the sweater around: because I\u2019d pur\u00adchased it a long time ago\u2014back when it was shiny and new and it did<\/i> fit me. I had come to asso\u00adciate that old sweater with some ancient pos\u00adi\u00adtive expe\u00adri\u00adences I\u2019d had wear\u00ading it, for\u00adget\u00adting that since then all of my expe\u00adri\u00adences with it had been the sar\u00adto\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal equiv\u00ada\u00adlent of tar\u00adring and feath\u00ader\u00ading<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In con\u00adtrast, when I took out my UPS sweater, I had a great expe\u00adri\u00adence. UPS tru\u00adly \u201csparked joy\u201d for me, so I\u2019m keep\u00ading that<\/i> sweater and toss\u00ading the U.S. Postal \u201cSer\u00advice\u201d one.<\/p>\n

As I thought about this in the days fol\u00adlow\u00ading, I real\u00adized that I\u2019ve been \u201cKon\u00adMari-<\/i>ing\u201d my life for 20 years with\u00adout being con\u00adscious\u00adly aware of it. Since 2002, when I quit my day job with Mer\u00adrill Lynch, I have applied\u2014often with\u00adout con\u00adscious thought\u2014these ideas of elim\u00adi\u00adnat\u00ading clut\u00adter and dis\u00adtrac\u00adtions in my work life. There is a long<\/i> list of things I don\u2019t do, peo\u00adple I don\u2019t spend time with, activ\u00adi\u00adties I no longer engage in, and \u201coblig\u00ada\u00adtions\u201d I no longer hon\u00ador.<\/p>\n

For exam\u00adple, over the past two years I\u2019ve dra\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly decreased my involve\u00adment with social media, to the point that I now only go on the inter\u00adnet<\/i> once a week, and that only to check my email. I glance at my Face\u00adbook account even less\u2014maybe every three weeks\u2014just to make sure peo\u00adple haven\u2019t died or tried to con\u00adtact me with impor\u00adtant oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adties.<\/p>\n

Guess what? Invari\u00adably, they haven\u2019t done either.<\/p>\n

A part of me would love to pull out of social media and the online world alto\u00adgeth\u00ader, but hav\u00ading totaled up the amount of time I\u2019ve \u201cinvest\u00aded\u201d in my online pres\u00adence, I know that over the course of a decade I put a work<\/i>-year<\/i> into that crap. To sim\u00adply delete all of my accounts would effec\u00adtive\u00adly be throw\u00ading away a year of my life. I\u2019m bet\u00adter off just leav\u00ading the pages and links and SEO junk out there like Old West store\u00adfront shin\u00adgles, weath\u00ader-beat\u00aden and creak\u00ading in the dusty wind. At least then I might even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly gain some pos\u00adi\u00adtive return on my time invest\u00adment.<\/p>\n

Return\u00ading to the Kon\u00adMari<\/i> idea\u2014keeping only the things that spark joy for me and dump\u00ading the stuff that makes me crazy\u2014I am now apply\u00ading Kon\u00adMari<\/i> to every\u00adthing in my life. Imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly after last Friday\u2019s imbroglio with the USPS, I start\u00aded cre\u00adat\u00ading lists of peo\u00adple, places, things, restau\u00adrants, stores, etc. that give me joy, and lists of those that make me crazy.<\/p>\n

The bot\u00adtom line is, I\u2019m get\u00adting rid of the stuff that makes me crazy, and keep\u00ading (and doing more with) those things that give me joy. Here\u2019s anoth\u00ader exam\u00adple: three months ago I rec\u00adog\u00adnized that alco\u00adhol no longer brought me joy (if it ever did). While in a drunk\u00aden stu\u00adpor, I punched some\u00adthing or some\u00adbody (no idea; I blacked out), and I broke my hand (the 5th<\/sup> metacarpal neck; see pic\u00adture of X\u2011ray). When I woke up the next morn\u00ading, I knew the alco\u00adhol was mak\u00ading me crazy and had to go.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve quit drink\u00ading for very long peri\u00adods in the past (as long as 8 years), but there are two dif\u00adfer\u00adences this time. One, I\u2019m now in Alco\u00adholics Anonymous\u2014going to meet\u00adings and \u201cwork\u00ading the pro\u00adgram.\u201d Two, I\u2019m apply\u00ading what I\u2019ve learned about Kon\u00adMari<\/i> to the prob\u00adlem. Alco\u00adhol equals no joy<\/i> for me; there\u00adfore, alco\u00adhol is offi\u00adcial\u00adly out of my life for\u00adev\u00ader.<\/p>\n

This week, I turn 49 years old. Even though health- and fit\u00adness-wise I rou\u00adtine\u00adly pass for a guy ten years younger, the fact is, chrono\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly I\u2019m almost 50, which means that I have endured the exis\u00adten\u00adtial, psy\u00adchic weight of near\u00adly half a cen\u00adtu\u00adry.<\/p>\n

I am now offi\u00adcial\u00adly \u201ctoo old for this crap.\u201d<\/p>\n

While talk\u00ading on the phone with a high school friend the oth\u00ader day, apro\u00adpos of noth\u00ading he said, \u201cWe are run\u00adning out of time<\/i>.\u201d Anoth\u00ader friend, over a year ago, told me how when he turned 50, he made the deci\u00adsion not to spend time with peo\u00adple who don\u2019t make him feel good.<\/p>\n

Both of these ideas have been ring\u00ading in my head since my friends uttered them\u2014especially the point about time:<\/p>\n

I am run\u00adning out of time<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Time to become the best writer I\u2019m capa\u00adble of becom\u00ading. Time to enjoy my life and those peo\u00adple most impor\u00adtant to me.<\/p>\n

Orcutt, July 2018. On his T\u2011shirt is his creed as a writer: \u201cIt is your object to con\u00advey every\u00adthing to the read\u00ader so that he remem\u00adbers it not as a sto\u00adry he had read but as some\u00adthing that hap\u00adpened to him\u00adself.\u201d \u2014 Ernest Hem\u00ading\u00adway<\/p><\/div>\n

In terms of my writ\u00ading, I think if I con\u00adtin\u00adue to keep myself in great phys\u00adi\u00adcal shape, I should be able to pro\u00adduce excel\u00adlent work for anoth\u00ader 20\u201325 years. With this end\u00adpoint in mind, how\u00adev\u00ader, it\u2019s imper\u00ada\u00adtive that I con\u00adtin\u00adue to Kon\u00adMari<\/i> my life.<\/p>\n

If I only have anoth\u00ader 20 years to become the best writer I can become, I\u2019ll be damned if I\u2019m going to will\u00ading\u00adly give a sec\u00adond<\/i> of it to any\u00adthing or any\u00adbody who doesn\u2019t give me joy in return.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tak\u00aden me decades of focus and say\u00ading \u201cno\u201d to lots of things, but I\u2019ve man\u00adaged to hone my life to a razor\u2019s edge. I\u2019ve raised to an art form the elim\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion of dis\u00adtrac\u00adtions and things that will pre\u00advent me from becom\u00ading the best writer I can become. Because I draw great inspiration\u2014dare I say joy<\/i>?\u2014from a dis\u00adci\u00adplined, rou\u00adtine, Sisyphean life that would make most oth\u00ader peo\u00adple want to put their head in an unlit gas oven and breathe deeply, I will con\u00adtin\u00adue to do what\u00adev\u00ader I must to pro\u00adtect that life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspired by my orga\u00adniz\u00ading genius wife, I recent\u00adly watched the pro\u00adgram Tidy\u00ading Up with Japan\u00adese orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion guru Marie Kon\u00addo. In the pro\u00adgram and in her\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,29,7,209,10,233],"tags":[94,506,517,514,504,513,96,155,516,518,505,515,508,507,510,512,509,511,302,221,355],"class_list":["post-8336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-film-tv","category-personal","category-social-media-technologyandinternet","category-technologyandinternet","category-writing-life","tag-chris-orcutt","tag-email","tag-komono","tag-konmari","tag-mail","tag-marie-kondo","tag-novelist","tag-orcutt","tag-organization","tag-organization-for-writers","tag-snail-mail","tag-spark-joy","tag-united-parcel-service","tag-united-states-postal-service","tag-ups","tag-us-mail-sucks","tag-usps","tag-usps-sucks","tag-writer","tag-writers-life","tag-writing-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8336"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8349,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8336\/revisions\/8349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}