Minimizing is the name of the game when moving.  I’ve moved 7 times in 10 years and its exhausting.  All this stuff to pack, all this stuff to sort and go through.  It really bogs you down mentally and emotionally without you even realizing it.  Over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that with stuff….stuff can bring a weight upon your shoulders weighing you down as you try to get into routine and build your life in a new place.  What purpose does this stuff serve?  In all actuality, nothing.  When you have all this stuff around you, you feel full.  This stuff fills voids in your heart and mind to create a false sense of security.  Overtime, it causes needless and unnecessary stress.  Why have 9 pans when there are just two of you?  Are you really going to continue to have family dinners when your marriage is over and your family is no longer your family?  Do you really need 5 blankets in the spare closet?  Are you really going to have a bunch of people over like you used to?  Why have two bureaus when it’s just you and the other is left empty?

I asked myself tons of questions when going through things.  When my new fiance and I decided to get a home we agreed that nothing that reminds us of our pasts comes with us.  We were brought together by God, hand-held through life by God, we don’t need the failures of our pasts haunting or affecting our new life together.  So as I walked through my apartment I looked at my things as if they were meaningful.  Will you serve me in my new marriage?  How did I obtain you?  Where did you come from?  From whom?  Were you his?  Do I need you now?

I threw away 9 large black trash bags of crap, 4 black trash bags of clothes that no longer fit (like I was gonna lose that much weight!), half my dishes, useless furniture, ugh my entire box of all my wedding things from my previous marriage and my dress, and numerous other things.  We were truly starting over.  While we had set aside money to buy all new furniture and decor, I have very few things from my past self.  I tried to hold on to my past self and it was very very hard for me to minimize this time around.  I had accumulated a lot and even though I minimized last year and the year before, the stuff I did have I earned, I needed, I kept on my own and THAT was important to me.  I’m a control person and to give up the control of stuff meant I was ready to move on.  We minimized so much that none of the shelves in our home are cluttered, full, or falling with things.  Everything has its place and purpose.  I have just what we need and will need.

And it feels freeing.  I  am no longer riddled with things that hold memories of hurt.  Memories of struggle.  I only have things now that we picked out together.  I’m surrounded by happy memories now, we have things that suit US.