The Fun of Moving
Raise your hand if you love moving?
Right. Just what I thought. Now imagine if you had to do it quickly, with little preparation. Such was the moment my dear friends recently faced. I’ll spare the details of the extenuating circumstances that lead to their move and fast forward to the move itself.
Much of it was a series of smallish trips between the old home and the new, with long bouts of cleaning and downsizing in between. This process, though necessary, is never easy. It’s quite painful, actually. It’s moment after moment of reckoning: Should I keep this? Throw it? Donate it? And what to do with all this other stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere? Let’s not forget the slowdown that happens when you come across an old photo or letter or memento that can wreck you, setting back the move further than you realize.
There’s another existential phenomenon that comes along with moving. It’s the in-betweenness of the act. It’s the reality of not living here or there, and the emotional toll it takes on a person. What’s more, this type of disruption isn’t resolved in a matter of days. It can take several months before one feels settled. There’s also the saying goodbye to the old, and saying hello to the new, whether you want to or not.
As a helper and observer of their move, I wanted to do more, but I knew I couldn’t. I couldn’t speed time up or slow it down. The physical toll we all endured was but a reminder of the rip in time that occurs when you have to move. It’s just the way it is. The best way to deal with it is to have some help. Pulling from one place and pushing into another isn’t a job done alone.
So consider this: whether you’re in your forever home or couch surfing, what could you live without? What are the necessary things in your life? What is valuable and what is not? Have you made the time to decide? If not, that’s an on-going project that’s well worth your energy.
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Photo by Clément Falize on Unsplash
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