Sarah Knight - The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F-ck

If youre like me, youve been giving too many fucks about too many things for too long. Youre overextended and overburdened by life. Stressed out, anxious, maybe even panic-stricken about your commitments.

The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck is for all of us who work too much, play too little, and never have enough time to devote to the people and things that truly make us happy.

I was almost thirty years old when I began to realize it was possible to stop giving so many fucks, but I was nearly forty before I figured out how to make it happen on a grand scale. This book is a culmination of everything Ive learned about not giving a fuck, a testament to the pleasure it has brought me, and a step-by-step guide for those wishing to free themselves from the shackles of fuck-giving in pursuit of healthier, happier lives.

If the title sounds familiar, congratulations! You havent been living under a rock as The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Japanese decluttering expert Marie Kondo has climbed bestseller lists all over the world. Millions of people have discovered her two-step KonMari Method, discarding items that do not spark joy and then organizing the ones they have left. The result is a clean, tranquil living space that, Ms. Kondo claims, promotes transformation even outside the home.

So what does a Japanese book about tidying up have to do with my manifesto on not giving a fuck?

Why, I thought youd never ask!

As prim, genteel, and effective at organizing your physical clutter as Ms. Kondo is, Ive got something else in store for you

In the summer of 2015 I quit my job at a major publishing house, a career that had been fifteen years in the making, to start my own business as a freelance editor and writer. The day I walked out of my high-rise office buildingsliding down that corporate ladder faster than a stripper down the last pole of the nightI eliminated a whole category of fucks I had previously given to supervisors, coworkers, my commute, my wardrobe, my alarm clock, and more.

I stopped giving a fuck about Sales Conference. I stopped giving a fuck about business-casual and town-hall meetings. I stopped keeping track of my vacation days like a prisoner tallying her sentence in hash marks on the cell-block wall.

Once I was released from the yoke of corporate ennui, I naturally had a bit of time on my hands and the freedom to spend it as I wished. I slept until I was damn well ready to get up, ate lunch with my husband, worked on a freelance gig or two (or maybe went to the beach), and avoided the New York City subway as much as humanly possible.

I also read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. As a generally tidy person, I didnt think I was in dire need of Ms. Kondos advice, but Im always looking for ways to make my apartment look more like Real Simple magazineand, hey, my time was my own to work, nap, or declutter as I saw fit.

Well, let me tell you, this little book works as advertised. It was almost dare I say magic?

Within hours, I had KonMarid my husbands sock drawer, which involves getting rid of socks you dont like and never wear (or, in this case, socks I knew he didnt like and never wore), then refolding the rest to look like little soldiers standing at attention, so when you next open the drawer, you can see all of them in one glance. After viewing the results, my husbandwhod initially thought I was batshit crazy to spend my time organizing his sock drawerwas a convert. He did the rest of his drawers and his closet all by himself the very next day.

If you havent read Marie Kondos book, allow me to explain why we were so motivated to do this work.

Beyond discarding items of clothing we no longer need or enjoy (and therefore being excited about all of our remaining options), weve decreased the time spent figuring out what to wear (because we can see everything in a single drawer with one look), nothing gets lost in a drawer anymore (because we follow Ms. Kondos method of stand-up folding), and we do a lot less laundry (because we havent tricked ourselves into thinking were out of clothes when in fact the good stuff was just crumpled up in the back of the bureau under the pants that dont fit).