Why Marie Kondo Is the Best Thing To Happen for the IBS Community
Marie Kondo has taken our generation by storm with the Netflix hit Tidying Up With Marie Kondo. If you haven’t watched it yet, I encourage you to carve out a full day to watch the season and start your tidying journey.
What does this have to do with IBS?
One of the major triggers for IBS symptoms is stress. Whether it comes in the form of anxiety, fear, or busy days, stress can wreak havoc on the digestive system. The message of Marie Kondo’s Konmari Method is to create space in your home for joy, clarity, and peace. She teaches people to do this by touching items to determine what “sparks joy” and what does not. She also teaches how to fold and store items so that every item has a home, and is organized in a way that is pleasant to look at. If you open a drawer full of random items, all mixed together, that can easily cause a moment of stress. If you have an organized drawer with everything placed where you can see it, that creates a very different moment in your day.
I’ve done this myself, and I highly recommend it as part of your IBS management plan. Here are my tips:
Clear Out Space
When you clear out space from items that don’t spark joy, you are opening space to either sit and breathe, or to fill with what does spark joy. What spaces in your home make you feel anxious? Imagine if those spaces began to spark creativity or created a sense of calm. Take your time here to embrace this stage in the process fully.
What’s your poop personality? Find out here!
Organize Items in a Way That Saves Time
Many of my fellow IBS-ers have a busy schedule, whether from work or taking care of kiddos. Organize your home in a way that makes your morning, meal, and evening routines a little more efficient. In your pantry, you can organize items on lazy susans to make them easier to grab immediately. In your bathroom, you can organize your beauty products to save time you would have spent digging around for that one item hidden at the bottom.
Apply These Principles to Other Areas in Life
You can Marie Kondo anything, not just your home. Go through your Instagram feed - are there people you follow that make you feel anxious, angry, or insecure? Let them go. Instead, follow people that bring joy to your life, whether they are professionals you can learn from, super cute dogs that make you smile, or your friends with life updates you want to see. In your job, are there tasks that suck the life out of you? Can you pass them along to someone else? Is there something you would love to do that you can ask for an opportunity on?
I know a show about cleaning your home may not seem useful to live life better with IBS, but if you can alleviate any unnecessary stress in your life, your gut will thank you.
If you would like to up your IBS management game, the MASTER Method Membership can transform you from insecure to confident in managing symptoms through the low FODMAP diet and lifestyle modifications (like what you’ve read above)! Click here to learn more or apply for a consult call!
Are you frustrated with your IBS symptoms? Do you desire to be confident in your food choices? Do you want to have a healthier relationship with your body and diet? Are you ready to take control of your IBS?
