downsizing

I am currently downsizing my life.

This has caused concern amongst my friends. Is everything alright? Am I ok? What’s going on?

By downsizing, I mean that I am moving into a smaller, brand new and more reasonably priced apartment that I feel will suit the next chapter of my life. As a consequence, I am reducing the amount of things I own.

And I love it.

I have enjoyed all the items of furniture and clothes and shoes and other miscellaneous goods that have been part of my life for various lengths of time. They have provided the backdrop, setting, and costuming for some of my previous chapters.

And I am also enjoying not having as many things. It feels simpler. The people who have bought my various items or to whom they have been donated will also enjoy these pieces. It’s their turn now. I have had mine.

Perhaps spending ten days on an 11-metre sailboat has shown me how possible, and in fact, liberating it is to live in a smaller space without lots of furniture and things. It’s the people you get to spend time with in your space or in theirs and the ideas you think about and the possibilities you see and the lessons you learn. These are the things that matter. A big wooden workbench is lovely and looked good in my various homes, but we have had our time together.

Things are all well and good and I am not about to stop shaving my legs, throw away my deodorant and wave my arms around wildly trying to convince you to follow me in some sort of crusade against consumerism. (And I don’t mean anything against those who don’t shave their legs…)

Not at all. And that really isn’t the point.

Right now. For me, letting go of some things to embrace a new perspective and experience feels good. It feels a little as though I am clearing the way for something, allowing it to unfold. I am not quite sure what that something looks like, but I know that it will come.