#MondayMusings : Lessons from moving
Life is a journey and we often find ourselves moving from one place to the other during the course of our lives. That is how life is. It goes on. Travellers that we are on life’s journey, we keep moving and in the process accumulating a lot of things. We accumulate friends, experiences and other objects. Friends give us memories. Experiences teach us lessons and the list goes on. We have to keep moving otherwise life gets ahead of us. So a few days ago when I moved from a Paying guest accommodation to an apartment, that experience did teach me a few things.
When I had decided to move after two long years of staying in the same PG, I was pretty certain that I didn’t have much to pack. Wrong. When I had first arrived in Bangalore, all I came with were three bags- one for clothes, one for books and the other one full of eatables that mom had packed for me because it was the first time her darling daughter was living away from home and apart from safety, food was the main worry she had. Okay, all those things apart, I thought that I wouldn’t take much time to pack and so decided to pack on the exact same day I moved! Wrong again. I decided to pack on the day of moving. Wrong choice!
When the day finally arrived I ran around frantically pulling all my stuff out and putting it all in the bags that I had. One of my friends had tried knocking some sense to me and had given me a box to pack all of my stuff. Slowly I started filling one bag after the other. But the more things I kept packing into my bags and boxes, it appeared that there were more things to pack! I needed Monica’s help (Monica from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. )I had already separated out the clothes that I would donate. I had decided on all the things that I would get rid off. But what I did not realize that I owned a lot more than I thought I did. Trust me I am not a hoarder. I wouldn’t keep two of a certain if I knew that I would need only one. I had forgotten that I had owned certain things. But that isn’t the only bad part. I sat down, looking at all the stuff I owned and kept remembering the memories associated with each. There was none to disturb me, hence I sat down there looking at all the things.
Time passed by and I didn’t realize until my landlady called me to ask if I was ready to vacate the room. It was then that I realized I had a lot of choices to make. I couldn’t take it all. But I couldn’t let go. So I kept picking up one thing at a time and deciding what I wanted to do with it. Finally after a lot of difficult decisions and a back pain, I was done. All of my things were filled and I had more bags to carry than I thought I would. But that wasn’t all. I had put away more thrash than I thought I would. The common area in my PG was filled with all of my stuff.
I realized that sometimes we accumulate things that we don’t know that we are accumulating. There comes a day when we realize that we have a lot of things that we don’t remember owning which means that we don’t need.But we may still want to hold on to those things. But if we did, it would be of no use. It would only take up space and not serve any purpose thus leaving less space for the new things that we might need.
Along with the friends, experiences and other things that we accumulate, we also accumulate a lot of negative emotions, negative thoughts and bad habits. Some times we don’t know we have them. But when they resurface, instead of forgetting and getting over with them, we choose to hold on. The negativity doesn’t serve any purpose. It just keeps occupying a part of our mind and doesn’t let us progress. It may take time. But we have to sit down, make a choice and make peace with the choice we make. It is your choice to hold on or let go. But you can’t choose not to bear the consequences of the choice. So do you want to hold on or let go? You have a choice to make!
There is still one question that keeps nagging me. How did all of that stuff fit in in that tiny room of mine? I don’t know! May be sometimes we have more space than we think we have. Like I always have space for dessert in my tummy 😛
Linking this post to #MondayMusings at Everyday Gyaan.
hihi! Love how you concluded the post. I could so relate to it! Well both the dessert reference and the entire post! I’ve just packed an entire home into 42 black boxes and moved and have gone through each and everything you said. I couldn’t even let go off even a water can. I would argue with P about how significant the bottle was, or how less a space it would occupy in one of the boxes or that we can even carry it in our car. Ultimately, our car was packed with stuff once we decided to hit the roads 🙂 Normal, isn’t it? Loved the post, Reema!
I can only imagine how hard it must have been for you to shift and entire house! Thank you Shalini for dropping by 🙂
I have done only 2 shiftings so really, I cannot say much. But, I recently saw my brother shifting for the fourth time in as many years and I know for sure, he hates it. He is always aghast at the amount of stuff he has added since he purged last. I have been staying at the same place for over a decade now. If I ever have to shift, it will be a truck load of unwanted stuff, I am sure. Enjoy your new place Reema.
Shifting so often must be really annoying for your brother! And yes, I too will have a truck load of unwanted stuff if I were to stay in a place for over 10 years! Thank you Lata 🙂
It happens with all of us. We buy sometimes in the name of necessity, sometimes instinctively and then we store them to use when the need will surface later. With time, we forget about those things which paved back into the dark confines of our memory and the dark corners of our houses. During shifting times, when the things make their appearance, we realize we actually need very little to function our daily lives with. Shifting regularly can be a blessing in disguise by helping us to keep a check on the baggage we carry, both literally and figuratively.
True that! Shifting did help me clear out a few things that I didn’t actually need. Thanks for dropping by 🙂
I’ve always believed the more we hoard stuff at home, the more we hoard stuff in our minds. I have seen personally when I declutter, it naturally gives space for cleaner and more positive energies. Shifting homes is a perfect way to declutter. But I feel all of us should take time out to declutter every 2-3 months. We tend to forget to do so. I’m guilty as charged. But it is one of the most cathartic experiences of life too.
Happy new home coming Reema.
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I totally agree with you! There are a lot of times when I kept telling myself that I have to clear out a few things but it wasn’t until I had to move I actually did that. Thank you so much Natasha 🙂
Haha…it is amazing how much we can accumulate in a short period of time as well as in a small space! I realised that during uni when I had one room worth of stuff. And then last year, after moving from a place I lived in for 7 years, I had a LOT of stuff!
I’m so happy to know that I’m not the only one who had lots of stuff 😛 Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Very well related! Happens with me as well 🙂
Good to know that 😛
Great post! I believe the emotional baggage is what continues to burden me. I would love to move, but the thought of the packing mortifies me.
Yes, I understand. I wanted to move out of my previous place for a long time but the thought of packing all of my stuff made me put it off for so long!
I can relate to that during the student days in India, staying in PG and a flat. The last minute is always crazy when the tempo has just reached and you got no choice but to pack everything to the new house. The rest will be taken care of baad mein. The issue remains that we keep accumulating stuffs and we don’t know the reason why! Now, I may come with a post or just put it into my Pune Memoirs on home shifting and did it several times.
Happens right? And yes you must write a post about it! Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Done it this week on the blog.
I’m presently in the midst of sorting the tremendous amount of paper I’ve collected as so I can understand your feelings. So true, how things and experiences tend to stick to us, unless we take the time to sort them out.
Yes Corinne, we have to take time and sort it out. Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Moving is hard yes. What is more hard is the packing that comes with it. When I moved from my parents house to my husband’s place after marriage, we did like ten trips in the car to transport my stuff. When we moved from my in-laws place to a place of our own, we did at least twenty trips. When I now look around, I don’t see that many stuff so I wonder what did I move 😛
Hahaha! We think we need something and then don’t use it. And someday when we need it, it magically disappears!
Thanks for dropping by Soumya 🙂
I live on rent and have been so since my 20 or so years in this city – everytime I move( have moved far more than anyone it seems) I seem to throw more than I pack; yet all of it reappears when the next packing happens. I think we are all collectors and not hoarders. And yes there are so many memories associated with it all. sometimes it becomes tough to throw away things. I have made a golden rule for my moves now- a month before, I sort out things to be given away and do it meticulously – even then the number of boxes has been going up and not down!! 😉
Even I had kept aside things to give away, yet the number of boxes only increased. I need to be better organized with my things.
Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Sigh! Tell me about it. Having shifted 7 houses across three states from desert to snow capped mountains to heck of a city in the last 3years,I know how much of unwanted stuff you must hv hoarded! Glad, you finally managed to shift to your new home 🙂
I understand what a pain it must have been!
Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Haha i guess it is perception, and almost always its not what we perceive right? Your post gets me thinking in a sort of profound way!
Being in a transferable job, we move every few years, and then begins disposing all the stuff we hoard. Phew!!!
Must be so difficult for you to have to move every few years! And yes what we perceive is so different from reality!
Thanks for dropping by 🙂