Between 1999 and 2004 I moved six times.
- From Canada to Colorado
- To a new apartment with a roommate.
- To a Townhome with another roommate.
- To an apartment with my new bride.
- To a better apartment with my bride.
- Home from Colorado back to Canada.
In that time I accumulated, and everything I added to my pile of stuff came with me, on every move except the last one where I threw away a few items that had worn out their usefulness. Like a couch whose cover was coming off.
Oversees travelling adventures later, when we were finally settled and starting to have kids, we got an apartment and stored all the accumulated stuff that we couldn’t use.
When we bought a house five years later I found boxes that hadn’t been opened since before I moved TO Colorado in the first place.
I stored things, unopened, for 12 YEARS. I didn’t need them. I didn’t really want them, but I kept them, and brought them with me every time I moved.
Until this house when I took stock, and made a momentous decision.
I was going to declutter.
In the move I disposed of thousands of books, scores of unopened boxes and various detritus weighing hundreds of pounds. Maybe tonnes.
I looked at items that I only kept from sentimentality and momentum and asked;
- Why am I keeping this?
- Do I actually want and like it?
- Will I actually use it?
I reversed my old mentality and everything that moved into this house had to be justified.
It was one of the most freeing things I have ever done, unburdening myself physically, mentally and emotionally.
