> It’s consoling to think that, beneath all these distractions, we’ll discover our shining, authentic selves, or even achieve a state of “mindfulness.” But I doubt it.
How many fluff articles can be summarized as "this trend is on an upswing, but I am skeptical"?
As far as material possessions leading to unhappiness, you can find that value system at the core of nearly every major spiritual doctrine, predating Christianity. There's also a massive body of psyche theory around behavioral economics, and the reasons experiential purchases are more satisfying.
This is an eternally well-tread topic that can't be dismissed by a lazy writer confusing her contrarian doubt with reasoned criticism.
The more decision fatigue I can eliminate the more I can focus on what I need. All of the other existential pains the author suffers from, I do not. I think "de-cluttering" is an activity many people undertake for a variety of reasons. For me it is all about eliminating decision fatigue and making it easy for me to accomplish the real work I want to accomplish.
2. Discard everything you have not used in five years. This will halve the pile.
3. Discard everything you have not used in one year. This will halve it again.
No, you won't put it on eBay. No, the special case it's for won't happen. No, "generally useful" is another term for "not actually useful", and "potentially useful" is another term for "not even actually useful".
I'm reading Kondo's book right now, and at first I thought it was going to be a wash for me, but her criterion for keeping or discarding things is actually more subtle than "have you used it in the last year?" In her words, you should ask yourself "does this bring me joy?" This may sound like a cop-out, but for people like myself - people who have a lot of hobbies, projects and interests...it makes the problem more approachable.
We'll see where I'm at in six months, though.
I am tempted to apply the "Does this bring me joy?" rule to my stuff again.