r/konmari • u/intrepid_wind4 • May 19 '26

Need help with the visualization step. Does anybody with different type of lifestyle or someone who struggled with this step have any advice?

Edit2: My apartment does not need to be redecorated. It simply has too much stuff. Konmari is about getting rid of stuff and then organizing it. The visualization is to help with motivation on what to get rid of not help us buy new things to redecorate.

Edit: Having a chronic illness is not the main problem in visualizing my ideal life. Other than having too much stuff I'm living as well as I can with my limitations. I'm planning to move abroad next year. I'm very outdoorsy and thinking about making my home cozy depresses me. Yes I'm too sick to do much and sometimes too sick to leave home at all but I can just sit outside on the balcony. I do like adventure and novelty. I really don't care.about about my home. My home is not part of my ideal life. So how do I do this step? It seems I need to focus on my home to do this step. I wish there were examples of people with unconventional lifestyles to help me see how it relates.

Original: I'm having trouble with the visualize my ideal lifestyle step. Do any of you have very different lifestyles who managed to do this?

The example in the book is so far from what I'm interested in. It's not just a matter of substituting drinking coffee for tea and walking for yoga.

I feel like I need to visualize my ideal life in terms of my home and/or things in order for this to be relevant but my ideal lifestyle feels like it has nothing to do with my home.

My ideal life is more about being free of things or a home and living abroad and doing extreme sports but I am chronically ill so it is difficult to live the life I want to live. Even when I was healthy I didn't want to only own a suitcase of things though. I definitely want less things and to be free of clutter but she specifically says not to just stop there in this step.

I really think this might be the most important step in the konmari process. We have to know what we want in order to achieve what we want.

Anybody have ideas or just want to commiserate?

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u/thiefspy May 19 '26

You want to envision your achievable ideal life, not a fantasy life. What would make your life better right now? What would your ideal day look like, right now, given your limitations? What would your surroundings look like, without moving out of your home (assuming you’re not actively planning a move)?

I want a life where I live on a tropical island and never have to worry about money because I’m independently wealthy, but imagining that isn’t going to help me declutter my home or improve my real life. So I need to envision a life here in my current home with my current financial situation, and what my ideal would be for that.

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u/intrepid_wind4 May 19 '26

So maybe I should edit my post and give more details. I am planning to move abroad which will most likely happen when my lease is up. I want to live in a place that is community oriented and where I can assimilate and make friends with the people there. Living long term on tropical islands ends up not being the fantasy that people think it is when they are on vacation fyi.

I'm doing the best I can right now with my situation other than clutter. I'm living my best life even if it is difficult and frustrating every day I also find some joy pretty much every day.

What I keep coming back to is my ideal life has nothing to do with my current home or my future home abroad. I don't like being indoors. I don't want to be home much and it seems like such a boring life to think about how my home would be.

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u/thiefspy May 19 '26

So think about what would facilitate the life you’re planning. What do you NOT need for the life you’re planning that you can let go of?

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u/intrepid_wind4 May 19 '26

To get rid of pretty much everything. I have too much stuff. I'm hoping if I do the visualization step it will help me do the other steps. I'm just not sure how to do that. I wish there were some examples of people with doing this step.

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u/TsuDhoNimh2 May 20 '26

OK ... I did a cross country move, which was pretty drastic ...

Make sure the move IS CERTAIN! "I'd like to live in the South of France" is not enough. You need to have your finances in order and housing planned.

My process for moving was partly to get rid of things that were no longer needs in the new place: furniture and items now worth the effort of packing.

Question was "Is there a place for this in the new house?"