Clutter

I am not a minimalist.
I am not organized.
I am not well-ordered, well-arranged, or systematized.

In a world telling me to prioritize and break things down to what is needed as opposed to what is WANTED, I fail. I wear that failure proudly because it is not just okay, IT IS CRITICAL!

I have rejected Marie Kondo’s advice and I march to the dated drum machine (circa 1994) in my head.

NOTE: I still have that drum machine, stashed away in a storage unit. The storage unit being a perfect analogy for clutter - but that’s another story for another day.

This is not a newsletter about “HOARDING,” which is a whole other topic worth a couple of thousand words (I’m still collecting material for that); no, I’m trying for focus on “CLUTTER” right now….

If you didn’t know, Marie Kondo (affectionately known to her legion of followers as “Konmari”) is the star of a Netflix vehicle called “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” She is Japanese, she is smart, and she is the world’s foremost organizing consultant. Not to mention, an author and internationally popular TV presenter.

Her raison d'être is thus: if something brings you joy - KEEP IT. Otherwise? Time to purge. Inspired by her mother’s subscriptions to home and lifestyle magazines, Konmari is all about interior design and cleaning.

Hers is not the only opinion and suggestion as to how to live a balanced, successful life in 2024. She and millions of others will tell you the ultimate path to enlightenment for human beings is simplicity, austerity and a spartan existence - where you access the necessities and cut out the fat and everything else.

My response? DO NOT EVER COME INTO MY OFFICE. OR MY BRAIN FOR THAT MATTER. DO NOT TRY AND FIGURE OUT WHAT I AM DOING. DO NOT JUDGE ME BY THE CLUTTER, BE IT LITERAL, EMOTIONAL, OR PROFESSIONAL, IN MY DAY-TO-DAY LIFE.

In fact, I demand we rethink our relationship with clutter and recognize it for what it truly is: a celebration of all things human, analog, and real. (See: Joe Walsh’s Analog Man)

This world is not a pristine Apple Store, where everything has its place and nothing superfluous dares encroach the Zen-like ambiance. It is not a television commercial for a high-end automobile where everything is one touch away from perfection.

Nope. My life - and I’m willing to bet that you will agree on at least a basic level - our lives are basically a theoretical mishmash of objects strewn across coffee tables, piled high on work stations, and stashed away in junk drawers.

Wanna know what “clutter” really is? It’s a messy, unpredictable and sometimes uncomfortable definition of humanity in the age of artificial intelligence.

Clutter is life.

Please. Do you honestly think that if Albert Einstein had an immaculate, spotless, free-of-anything-but-a-pencil-and-a-piece-of-paper-on-his-desk, he would have come up with the “Theory of Relativity?” Virginia Woolf focusing on what stationary to use with what pen isn’t gonna write those masterpieces! I don’t want to pump myself up too much, but there are studies that say messy, cluttered, disorganized desks are the sign of genius.

Get it? Clutter is the manifestation of our brains at work. Do you have “stuff” scattered everywhere? I am with you! Your mind is working! There are ideas, plans, considerations, and concepts yet to be discovered! “Clutter” is not a dirty word (see what I did there?); it is a testament to the complexity of our lives.

Let me go minimalist and sum up this newsletter in one sentence.

The next time you feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable with the mess on your desk, remember that not only is that okay, but YOU ARE BRILLIANT!

Life is too short to worry about whether or not your space is Instagram-worthy. Life should be lived, and living is messy.

I’ll even go as far as to say LIFE IS A JUNK DRAWER. Yes, yes it is. Indeed so.

Often maligned as a symbol of disorganization, the junk drawer is, in fact, a microcosm of the human experience.

Or maybe it’s theatrical? Like a memoir. Maybe it’s our story? A magical, mystical, otherworldly place where the mundane and the extraordinary coexist—a dead battery sits next to a love letter; a paperclip tangles with a pair of old Stevie Wonder concert tickets (I don’t feel like forgetting that night and I love the fact that every time I open the drawer I see those tix… my wife and I had first row seats, the concert lasted 2 hours and we danced the entire time. And you want an example of clutter or messiness? We could HEAR the band talking between songs:



“Stevie you’re in the wrong key!”
“No, I’m not. You are.”
“Stevie! You wrote this in E Flat!”
“Maybe. But we’re gonna play it in E tonight. And one and two and….”

My junk drawer is a reminder that life never fits into neat little boxes. It’s messy, it’s unpredictable, and sometimes it doesn’t make sense. And that is precisely what makes it beautiful.

In my world, that’s me: husband, father, comedian, ventriloquist, musician, writer, podcaster, world traveler, and… yeah, I’ll say it: a mess.

GIMME THE CLUTTER!

Thanks for reading,
Taylor



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