The arrival of the lift, if not to our house yet, makes me think a lot about living with less. When packing the lift it was all about "what will we need there? what don't they have there? what can we get cheaper here? what will we never be able to get in Israel again?" We ran around like lunatics trying to buy out whole stores like BJ's, Target and Walmart, with endless cries of, "what if they don't have this there?!"
Three weeks later and I don't know how many time zones different, all that has changed. It's amazing (truly amazing) to see how little we can live with; how much we can do without. I am now actually dreading the arrival of our things. I don't need/want 3/4 of that junk stuff. The only thing that we really have been feeling the lack of are seforim and english books, MY BED! and some personal items like photographs, toys, etc.
I now imagine our bright airy apartment being filled tomorrow or the next day with ominous dark boxes in every corner, filled with things that we would never miss but once we open the boxes will feel we can't do without.
I was telling a friend that I am trying to get up the guts to put some of those boxes in the trash without even opening them first. Not being weighed down by all of that is surprisingly liberating. I feel thousands of pounds, ok, kilos, lighter. Happier.
There's gotta be a tremendous lesson here and it's interesting that it becomes much clearer here in Eretz Yisrael where focusing on things that are most important is so much easier. I guess the real idea is to think about what we really need and what it is that we can most take with us wherever we are going, where there are no suitcases, no boxes, no stuff to weigh us down. Those things that can and do come with us are those that matter most.
Happy Packing :)
4 comments:
I remember you feeling the same way years ago when you arrived back in the United States and you were living for weeks without your "stuff". So true - I couldn't agree more. I would love to have the courage to just throw away all the bins in my basement. Need to lighten up for our final trip to Yerushalayim :)
After moving around the U.S. for the last 30 years, we have boxes that were packed in Chicago (first home) and were never unpacked in any of the three subsequent moves. But we had to have our "stuff." I would love to get rid of it because, in reality, we don't need it and it's just "stuff."
I say in honor of this chizuk we are giving each other, we each throw away TWO boxes within the next week! It's only TWO!!!! Who's with me?!
Kara, you give me chills.
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