Why the hell is Marie Kondo okay with mess now? Here is the (real) reason

I was just throwing away a bunch of letters from my first love this morning, but something went wrong. Before getting out of bed, as always, putting on my cell phone to watch the news, I ended up with this: Marie Kondothe Japanese tidying guru, has abandoned order and extreme cleanliness. He revealed it a few days ago during a webinar to promote his latest book, Marie Kondo’s Kurashi at Home: How to Organize Your Space and Achieve Your Ideal Life. Huh? What? Trying not to trip over the three rolled up sweaters that hadn’t yet been placed in the appropriate box in the wardrobe, for which I already felt a great sense of guilt, I dashed off to the PC. It was true, various foreign newspapers were talking about it. The news was already trending. Let me understand.

“I gave up on this, making a good compromise with me,” Kondo said. That is, you Marie, in reality you weren’t the same one who smiled serenely and told us to «jump with affection – but throw them away! – our torn T-shirts from that U2 concert in 1997: the abyss of remorse and indecision stirred inside you, and while you asked us to let go, to kill our memories because it would have been better for us, actually you were disconnected from your deepest and most sincere emotions, like an automaton drunk with gain and fame.

But let’s go ahead. «Now I realize that what is important to me is to enjoy spending time with my children at home». Marie, you had become a mother of three, yet you kept smiling, saying it was – easy – to tidy up. Which was necessary. That was educational. We looked at the dirty stuff bin in the bathroom, and at the little street, not of pebbles, but of clothes, which connected the bathroom and the boys’ room, and we shed a few tears. We knew that we would never reach such perfection. And instead you, while we compiled tables with stars to get minors to help us around the house by promising inadequate rewards, you were there shooting a game of Cocco Dentista with your parents, regardless of the snack crushed on the carpet and the messy changing area. How could you.

“The ultimate goal is to inspire joy every day and lead a joyful life,” you concluded. So, as if it were obvious. Now the philosophy is that of kurashi, a kind of «order but not too much», or «acceptable disorder». No Marie, I’m not into it. You said you needed no more than thirty books, and I hadn’t followed you, I had rearranged the library in alphabetical order, a commitment that cost me several weekends and family quarrels. I didn’t experience joy, and I thought it was because I didn’t try hard enough. Now you tell me that the 30 books was “a wrong idea”, so I was right, but I ruined my liver anyway.

The bag of letters from my first love looks at me in the hall, and I thought I will never throw it away. I figured I’ll send it to Marie, and maybe we should all say hello and send her our bags of stuff, to turn her into a serial hoarder. But then a doubt assails me. I imagine the scene kurashi: “Honey, you’ve got mail.” “Thanks, honey”. While the children experience joy in the kitchen, throwing slices of pizza at each other, Marie unpacks the letters I sent her. She initially doesn’t understand, then a light bulb goes on.

“Honey, maybe I should become the queen of clutter.” “Honey, you’re a genius.” “Honey, I need to find a new keyword… Shogai? After all, wasn’t it me saying: the real purpose of tidying up is not to reduce your possessions or downgrade your space, but to learn to make meaningful choices and find gratitude in everyday life?». “Honey, it was you.” “Honey, thank you. I love you”. «Honey, now I play with the play even if I haven’t emptied the washing machine». “Honey, but you have to try harder. Can you also blow up this sack of letters in the living room? It is funny!”.