Moving out
The apartment is empty. Empty after taking all of our things out, some were sold, some were given away, some we are keeping and some we threw away. And now it sits there, empty, but filled with memories, good moments and experiences we lived in the last 2 years and 9 months.
It has been a process, well, moving is always a process but I’m not talking of a normal move from one house to another, no, this is moving from one house to NO house, to being houseless, to be free to come and go as we please.
“And so, the journey begins!” Those were the words I found myself saying while we looked at the empty space. Even though the journey already started a while back. Just getting the plane tickets, organizing the visas, packing, quitting our jobs. All of these things are part of the journey. So it began already a while ago. But more than packing, more than quitting our jobs, more than talking with people about our world trip, leaving our home feels so much more final, like a big milestone, something that breaks our story, the before and after.
So now we are staying at my girlfriend’s parents’ house for a few weeks. It’s a nice transition, it’s made this process easier because we had to force ourselves to organize so many things already, not specifically about the trip (though we did keep it in mind) but just going through all the things we own and deciding if it’s something we want to keep, if it’s something that we are actually using (or will use) or if it’s something we are holding onto for whatever reason. We have gotten rid of many things that we had just because we had space where to put them but not really fulfilling any need or having any purpose.
Every time I got rid (gave away, sold or threw) something I would have this feeling of lightness, of letting go of something that I don’t need to carry. The famous “Getting weight off of your shoulders” feeling. I could go into coaching mode and tell you how we are often carrying things around with us for so long that we don’t even feel them anymore, it is our “normal” now. And that we have to let go of many things we don’t even know we are holding onto. So that we can be more present, more free, more happy, more alive or more in the moment, but I don’t want to bore you with a “be better” speech right now.
The point is that having this transition of having our own place, to moving out but not starting the trip yet has made the experience of letting go more present and it has made our stress levels lower because we don’t have to do everything at the same time, we have more time to deal with things as they come. First, get rid of stuff we don’t want/need, then move out and store a few things we still want/need and then, do a check-up for the things we still need for the trip and finish packing the bags.