The second hurdle to leaving is clearing our personal possessions out of the house, fixing and replacing things we have put off, and making it nice for guests.
Sigh.
We’ve all experienced the pain of moving and the disbelief at how much stuff we really have. I think is going to be a theme for us in the next few months as we learn to live with less and lighter things. As I look around at the piles of our treasured possessions, it’s starting to just look like stuff. I’m questioning a lot.
“Why did I keep that?”
“Why do I have so many of these?”
“What is this?”
Then there are the bins and boxes needed to pack. We are packing our stuff to leave it in the basement for seven months, but the boxes aren’t going to rattle around in a moving truck. They don’t need to be padded and protected, but they do need to be stacked.
Professional organizers say that once you clear one space, you notice other spaces more and those start to cause discomfort. Yep. The more I do, the more I see that needs to be done. I think this could go on forever, but I’m so antsy to get going on our trip.
My strategy has been to start with the inner spaces. I started with closets and drawers. That just created a bigger mess that I could see, but I knew that what I could see is what we had left. Have I mentioned that we have too much stuff? That’s so apparent when you can see it all.
I’ve also been working on my own inner spaces, those parts of me that want a spare for the spare, just in case. I’ve been slowly realizing that more isn’t better, and it might be a lot worse. According to statista.com, there are 5,358 Walmart stores in the United States. I think we have access to what we will truly need on this trip, even if one of those essential widgets breaks.
So maybe we can get by just fine without a spare. (Except a spare tire. I’m not willing to go that far.)
I don’t know exactly what it is going to be like living in an RV for months on end. I hope that we get used to the ease of less. I hope that I find that I have more time, because the stuff is not demanding as much of it. I got excited in our house kitchen this evening as I was rearranging the things that my husband put away in unusual places. With only one drawer in the RV, he’ll only have one option… and that means I will be able find it.
You know, as we are clearing it out and minimizing, it already feels more restful, and that’s one of the goals of this sabbatical.
