#2: Tidying up as therapy
Yes, I am a disciple of Marie Kondo
I love the art of tidying up!
For me it’s literally free therapy. It’s a practice in detachment. When the mood strikes, I’ve been known to fully “renovate” a whole room within a weekend. I recently resurrected our family’s old digicam just to find photos of me re-arranging my room back in 2007. So on-brand, I love it!
Here are five #StudioNotes for moving into 2025 as light as possible. Take what you need and share the rest:
Remember that perfection is always an illusion. While I love order, a perfectly neat space is never really my goal. What I aim for is practicality + meaning—arranging things so that I know where they are should I need them + surrounding myself with objects that spark joy. This is possible through eliminating most of what is irrelevant or no longer functional.
A glimpse of my studio space back when it was new Keep, Give or Throw? If it’s beyond reasonable repair, just throw it awayyyy. It’s tempting to hold on to things that could be useful again with a little repair, whether it’s clothes or an old gadget. But be honest—how often do you really take the effort to fix these items? I believe that when something breaks, (like a bracelet or well-loved shoes) it’s because that thing’s already given us all the energy it could possibly give. Discard them with a thank you and a goodbye, and let go peacefully.
Quality > quantity. While I’d never call myself a minimalist, I enjoy meaningful minimalism (if there is such a term). If you love something and it inspires you, it stays. This applies especially for knick knacks other people might not understand, but hold special meaning for you. Better yet, keep it in view—give it a special spot on your shelf or hang it on your wall.
My little shrine of satisfaction Tidying as productive procrastination. Deciding the fate of items that have found their way into your life one way or another is a tangible way to take back control of your space and mental landscape. It’s a form of closure! It helps with your creativity! I often run into younger versions of myself through old notebooks, school papers, and outfits, and I get inspired all over again—either because I still relate to the girl I once was, or because I can see how much I’ve evolved since then.
Every time you let go, you reclaim space to allow something better to take its place. Wow, this applies not just to clutter but to relationships and outgrown identities as well. Ultimately, tidying up is an emotional event— it involves facing baggage we didn’t even realize we were carrying. Sometimes it means looking at the potential selves we wanted to become, but just haven’t grown into yet. (That’s what I think when I see my sewing machine & fabrics gathering dust in a corner.) Because it’s potentially painful, we often let things pile up until we literally can’t avoid the mess anymore. But trust Marie Kondo when she says “When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too.”
Beyond spaces, my current challenge is decluttering my digital life. Choosing which media clips to keep and which to delete has been a whole different animal altogether, but these points help. I was finally able to post my 2024 recap reel! The editing process inspired me to purge my camera roll again. This year I’m making space for new moments, while celebrating what ought to be celebrated. :)
What about you, how have you been lightening your load so far?
I’d love to hear back from you <3
xx, B
