WITMonth Day 29 | How women in translation changed my life | Guest post

A very special WITMonth post today, from my dear sister (not twins) - the original inspiration for this blog! Thank you, Shiranne!

I’ve been a huge fan of Meytal Radzinski’s since before I could read, and I’ve been a huge fan of this blog since before it existed. (This is where I get to take credit for being the one who nudged her to open it!) I’m also a hardcore fan of WIT month, and I am proud to get to take part in this awesome project.

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It just so happens that the two biggest influences on reorganizing my mind and heart were women in translation.

The first and main one: Maria Montessori, the Italian doctor-turned-educator who developed the Montessori education philosophy and method back at the turn of the last century. The second woman: Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidying-up consultant whose KonMari method of organizing is very fashionable at the moment.

I first heard of Maria Montessori when I was hired to teach English at an Israeli Montessori school. In a typical fashion, I fell in love with the philosophy and ended up moving to the U.S. to study to be a Montessori educator. In my training we read excerpts from Montessori’s books, detailing what she had learned about children’s learning. Montessori saw the classroom itself as the teacher, and the teacher as the guide. She watched children pursuing their own innate passions and learning in a happier and healthier way than children learning in the mainstream (somewhat assembly-line-esque) education system. Montessori believed very strongly in the idea that your environment can shape you, and that if we created the right environment, then the children would learn happily and naturally. Three and a half years after first being introduced to Montessori, I am still likely to go on a half hour tangent whenever somebody asks me to explain what it is.

During the same summer of my training, I had also come across a book titled “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo. Americans, collectors of all things useless, seemed to be obsessed with this book, and knowing that I too have a tendency towards hoarding I thought I might as well give it a read. Kondo’s book transformed my perspective towards every item that I owned. From being a person who had trouble throwing away old shampoo bottles, I was suddenly able to give away clothes that had been sitting my closet for 10 years. The key to Kondo’s method (called the “KonMari” method) is simple: declutter by focusing on the things that truly give you joy. Whatever doesn’t give you the right level of joy (measured naturally by comparing to the things that give you the most joy) - thank it, and let it go.


Both of these women have helped me recognize the importance of having an organized environment in my home and workplace. It doesn’t mean I’m always able to stick to it since I imagine I will always be a naturally messy person, but it does mean that I see the value in putting effort into creating the world that I want, in every aspect of my life. It can also mean looking at my relationships (of all sorts) as something that I work on, or looking at the country I live in and figuring out how I can work on making it better. It can mean trying to see opportunities for growth in everything around me. For me, it was a huge shift in my philosophy, and I have two women in translation to thank for it.

Wishing a happy and meaningful end of WIT month to you all!