One of the weirdest things about packing all of my things up in a huge storage crate is trying to decide what I'll need and what I won't. It gets pretty existential, sometimes--who will I be in six months, when I get all my stuff out of storage? Who will I be in the meantime, and what will I need that shouldn't be locked away?
It's sort of like when I first went to college. I'm pretty sure I'm taking less stuff then I did then. I'm also pretty sure I have less stuff in general than I had then. And like I was then, I'm walking this line between stuff I want to take with me and things I really need to take with, and making the decisions on an item-by-item basis.
I'm not taking any of my furniture. I'll have a bed to sleep on, and everything else is already there. I'm taking my computer, but none of my appliances. I'm not taking any crafting stuff except my embroidery box; everything else, I can get new if I need it, and my main crafting I foresee is going to be making nail polish*, and all those ingredients haven't been bought yet. I'm not taking any winter stuff because it takes up too much space, so I'll probably have to get a new coat, and maybe some new heavier clothes.
I am taking my bedding, and most of my daily-wear clothes. Only some of my shoes. All my jewelry, makeup and hair stuff. Very few of my tchotchkes. Almost none of my old writing or all those piles of files containing it. Only books I have to read for school or review. None of my cookbooks.
It's scary, on one hand, because I feel like everything I have left after the last few moves is stuff I actually need or love, and I feel like I'll need it now, even though I don't have anywhere to put it. On the other hand, it's pretty freeing, and I know from traveling that I can do fine on very little--and, I mean, I'm staying with family, so it's not going to be nearly as self-sufficiency-needing as living out of suitcases in hotel rooms.
I'm just so conflicted on the whole thing. I don't want to move, but there's not enough keeping me here (and none of the big things like a job) to be stubborn about it. And I always did say that my next move had to be a move out of state, so there you go.
And hopefully, at the end of this whole rigmarole, I'll have a place of my own, an new job, and a decent start on a new, less isolated life.
How are you handling change? I'm not good at it, but I'm working on it, and I'd love to hear about your trials and tribulations and how you do it.
*See incidentaltwin.blogspot.com for updates on that!
