My KonMari College Papers "Con"
Second time through KonMari and I am beginning to understand why this second full KonMari Festival is necessary--the first time through I was essentially playing a "con" on myself.
Behold. My collected college papers in a carefully staged "before" pose from my 2015 KonMari festival.
Graduating college was a major life achievement for me and I did love all these papers and assignments to one degree or another but the bulk was too much. And during my first festival I was able to whittle the piles down to what I thought were the spark joy papers.
Behold. The 2015 "after" papers.
It is all a self-created KonMari con.
Yes, it is clearly half the bulk of the before piles, perhaps just a third of the before piles. Great job! Right!?
I moved on from papers and worked cursorily through the rest of the categories. I reached a quasi-ceremonial end of my KonMari Festival #1 but I never heard or felt the giant gong of success or the click of completion.
The gong never gonged and the final click never came.
So it is now 2017 and I am in the middle of my full KonMari Festival #2. Leave it to the dreaded category of Papers to reveal my KonMari cons to me.
Con #1
First time through I never gathered all my college related papers. The first picture from 2015 is a kind of self-delusional lie or avoidance. The piles never included an entire extra box of college-related papers and programs (including graduation papers, programs, etc). By not gathering everything I avoided truly dealing with the bulk.
Con #2
Once I got rid of about half of the paper bulk through eliminating the easy stuff, I stopped really listening and feeling for spark joy. Instead I gave myself a pass and assigned everything still remaining as "keep." In essence I was using a pre-set bulk figure for how much to keep--and once reasonably reached I stopped feeling and I stopped discarding.
Con #3
When I stopped using "spark joy" and "necessity" as guides I was essentially avoiding the pain of saying goodbye to things. Giving myself an early "passing grade" meant no more difficult goodbyes. I avoided the pain, but at what cost?
Time
I am in the middle of a full KonMari Festival #2. If I don't drill down to the bottom of each category and subcategory I will be engaged in a never ending cycle of full on festivals. To not get to the bottom means a never ending loop of decluttering in yearly incremental "improvements" verses a radical and magical change in my home and life.
Effort
This is exhausting. Hauling these papers to and fro just to go through them once again is a lot of life effort for something rooted in my past.
Over this weekend I have reduced my remaining college papers and memorabilia by half once again. So bulk wise I am down to a fourth of the original piles from 2015. But if I am honest, still no click. I will need to push further if I don't want to be facing these papers in a future festival.
Magic
I want my vision statement to be alive!
I see now that to have magic in my life I will need to keep saying goodbye to the objects that do not intensely spark joy.
I am also (reluctantly) suspecting Marie Kondo may be right. Papers. Get rid of them all. Papers bring no joy.
If I am honest with myself, I already know the 3 or 4 papers that spark intense joy for me. They would be the ones I grabbed if the house were suddenly on fire. They are the papers with private notes written to me from beloved professors that marked pivotal moments in my scholarly journey.
In the end, the only college paper that really matters to me is the actual college diploma itself. But even the printed diploma, while it sparks joy, is not the true essence of my past or my future journey. It is the who I am being today because of my college experience--the skills and knowledge and perhaps a touch of wisdom I gained on that journey--that truly sparks joy. And that can not be contained in a piece of paper.
Behold. My collected college papers in a carefully staged "before" pose from my 2015 KonMari festival.
Graduating college was a major life achievement for me and I did love all these papers and assignments to one degree or another but the bulk was too much. And during my first festival I was able to whittle the piles down to what I thought were the spark joy papers.
Behold. The 2015 "after" papers.
It is all a self-created KonMari con.
Yes, it is clearly half the bulk of the before piles, perhaps just a third of the before piles. Great job! Right!?
I moved on from papers and worked cursorily through the rest of the categories. I reached a quasi-ceremonial end of my KonMari Festival #1 but I never heard or felt the giant gong of success or the click of completion.
The gong never gonged and the final click never came.
So it is now 2017 and I am in the middle of my full KonMari Festival #2. Leave it to the dreaded category of Papers to reveal my KonMari cons to me.
Con #1
First time through I never gathered all my college related papers. The first picture from 2015 is a kind of self-delusional lie or avoidance. The piles never included an entire extra box of college-related papers and programs (including graduation papers, programs, etc). By not gathering everything I avoided truly dealing with the bulk.
Con #2
Once I got rid of about half of the paper bulk through eliminating the easy stuff, I stopped really listening and feeling for spark joy. Instead I gave myself a pass and assigned everything still remaining as "keep." In essence I was using a pre-set bulk figure for how much to keep--and once reasonably reached I stopped feeling and I stopped discarding.
Con #3
When I stopped using "spark joy" and "necessity" as guides I was essentially avoiding the pain of saying goodbye to things. Giving myself an early "passing grade" meant no more difficult goodbyes. I avoided the pain, but at what cost?
Time
I am in the middle of a full KonMari Festival #2. If I don't drill down to the bottom of each category and subcategory I will be engaged in a never ending cycle of full on festivals. To not get to the bottom means a never ending loop of decluttering in yearly incremental "improvements" verses a radical and magical change in my home and life.
Effort
This is exhausting. Hauling these papers to and fro just to go through them once again is a lot of life effort for something rooted in my past.
Over this weekend I have reduced my remaining college papers and memorabilia by half once again. So bulk wise I am down to a fourth of the original piles from 2015. But if I am honest, still no click. I will need to push further if I don't want to be facing these papers in a future festival.
Magic
I want my vision statement to be alive!
I see now that to have magic in my life I will need to keep saying goodbye to the objects that do not intensely spark joy.
I am also (reluctantly) suspecting Marie Kondo may be right. Papers. Get rid of them all. Papers bring no joy.
If I am honest with myself, I already know the 3 or 4 papers that spark intense joy for me. They would be the ones I grabbed if the house were suddenly on fire. They are the papers with private notes written to me from beloved professors that marked pivotal moments in my scholarly journey.
In the end, the only college paper that really matters to me is the actual college diploma itself. But even the printed diploma, while it sparks joy, is not the true essence of my past or my future journey. It is the who I am being today because of my college experience--the skills and knowledge and perhaps a touch of wisdom I gained on that journey--that truly sparks joy. And that can not be contained in a piece of paper.
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