Moving House

I’m moving house again. This time, unlike the year before when I made the big move from one country to another, this is on a smaller scale. Just from one apartment to another in the same city.

I didn’t have much to pack, mostly personal effects that our small rented room could hold when we first arrived. No furniture, nothing that requires a U-haul or moving truck.

Which is as it should be. Even more surprising is that as I sorted through the stuff for the move, I realized there’s a lot that I need to get rid of.

Things I brought with me from my home country, which I realized after being here in Canada for half a year now, was of no use to me.

When I packed for moving to Canada, I was advised by friends who’ve migrated before me to only bring the bare minimum and get the rest of the stuff that I need once I arrive here.

But the spendthrift in me thought that bringing stuff which were cheaper from my home country made more sense than buying them in Canada. I was wrong.

Aside from the hefty excess baggage fee that I paid at the airport because I didn’t weight all my luggages properly with the rush of packing more stuff at the last minute, I’m currently looking at a pile of things to get rid of because I don’t need them after all.

They’ve been sitting in my closet for half a year! No way am I bringing unnecessary baggage to the new place where I’m moving to.

I realize that’s how we should take most things in life, too. We cannot keep piling our old baggage from the past and be able to move forward. These things hold us down.

It could just be sentimentality of the past that made us hold on to them a bit longer, or the comfort it gives us, sort of a reminder of our good old selves when things were perfect for a while.

A small part of me knew it back then, but I was stubborn and wanted to ‘cushion’ myself with something familiar when there’s too many changes happening around me. It did help, if only for a while.

With the move to a new apartment after having adjusted to our new life in Canada, it forced me to revisit those thoughts. Along with the sorting and downscaling, to pack only what I truly need and make the move more lightly this time (literally and figuratively), with much more freedom.

And so, the adventure continues.