What would you give up to live one of your dreams? Jason (my best friend & hubby) & I had a conversation a little while ago about living abroad & it was something akin to this:
Jason: "Would you ever want to live in another country?"
Me: "Sure!" (I don't know why he keeps asking, he knows I do) "I think it would be awesome for the kids & a great experience for us as well. Where were you thinking?"
Jason: "I don't know, anywhere. I just didn't know if you were open to entertaining the idea if the opportunity ever came up." (a few minutes later) "We certainly couldn't take everything with us. It'd be too expensive to ship."
Me: "What would you be willing to sell?"
Jason: "Umm ..." (pausing to look around the room) "... everything. You?"
Me (also looking around): "Yeah. There's nothing I'm so attached to that I'd have to keep. Just take our clothes & save a few special items that mean a lot to us."
Jason: "Then we could have an estate sale, donate the rest, & rent out the house."
I thought about this conversation later that night & have been thinking about it since. What is it about the idea of moving to another country that makes Jason & I willing to give up just about everything we own? We moved 2500 miles away from everything & everyone we knew in 2011, & we rented the biggest freaking truck we could & crammed as much of our junk in it as we could fit. Yet here I was, looking around & there were literally only one or two small items I'd keep in the entire room if I got the chance to live overseas. So, why didn't I do that 2 years ago? Sometimes I feel like that girl in Labyrinth, when she's trying to decide whether to give up her teddy bear to her baby brother & the junk lady tries to convince her she needs all her stuff piled on & around her. I don't want to end up like that, all my possessions piled around me. So why take it all with me to Ohio but not to Europe or Australia?
Yes, part of the reason would be that we'd have to downsize anyway, since living in an apartment or condo would be more within our price range. Jason's work requires being at least close to, if not within a large city & stand alone homes in those areas are rare & pricey. Part of it would be that it really is too expensive to ship stuff overseas, but it's more than that. Thinking about it, I wouldn't miss the furniture & general stuff. (well, with the exception of our daughters' dressers we just bought from a little shop downtown called Old World New Home which are gorgeous & I love them. I don't think I could sell these so easily)
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Still, a move like that would feel like a new start. Why then, would it take moving to another country for me to let it all go? I'm realizing my stuff is like a security blanket (my inner pack rat coming to the surface. I constantly have to fight the voice in my head that makes excuses like "I might need this down the road"). Going somewhere new where I wasn't sure I'd like it, I wanted familiar items around me from my old life at home in California. Now, craving new experiences, I'm willing to let go & start fresh. It's easier to take a bigger leap when I've done it before & survived. I'm realizing when it comes down to it, I don't need all the stuff. It can be easily replaced & it just adds weight keeping me in one place when I refuse to let it go. It's one of my dreams to make new memories with my family & expose my children to different places & cultures. What's one of your big dreams & what would you give or sell to make it happen?
Jason: "Umm ..." (pausing to look around the room) "... everything. You?"
Me (also looking around): "Yeah. There's nothing I'm so attached to that I'd have to keep. Just take our clothes & save a few special items that mean a lot to us."
Jason: "Then we could have an estate sale, donate the rest, & rent out the house."
I thought about this conversation later that night & have been thinking about it since. What is it about the idea of moving to another country that makes Jason & I willing to give up just about everything we own? We moved 2500 miles away from everything & everyone we knew in 2011, & we rented the biggest freaking truck we could & crammed as much of our junk in it as we could fit. Yet here I was, looking around & there were literally only one or two small items I'd keep in the entire room if I got the chance to live overseas. So, why didn't I do that 2 years ago? Sometimes I feel like that girl in Labyrinth, when she's trying to decide whether to give up her teddy bear to her baby brother & the junk lady tries to convince her she needs all her stuff piled on & around her. I don't want to end up like that, all my possessions piled around me. So why take it all with me to Ohio but not to Europe or Australia?
Yes, part of the reason would be that we'd have to downsize anyway, since living in an apartment or condo would be more within our price range. Jason's work requires being at least close to, if not within a large city & stand alone homes in those areas are rare & pricey. Part of it would be that it really is too expensive to ship stuff overseas, but it's more than that. Thinking about it, I wouldn't miss the furniture & general stuff. (well, with the exception of our daughters' dressers we just bought from a little shop downtown called Old World New Home which are gorgeous & I love them. I don't think I could sell these so easily)
Still, a move like that would feel like a new start. Why then, would it take moving to another country for me to let it all go? I'm realizing my stuff is like a security blanket (my inner pack rat coming to the surface. I constantly have to fight the voice in my head that makes excuses like "I might need this down the road"). Going somewhere new where I wasn't sure I'd like it, I wanted familiar items around me from my old life at home in California. Now, craving new experiences, I'm willing to let go & start fresh. It's easier to take a bigger leap when I've done it before & survived. I'm realizing when it comes down to it, I don't need all the stuff. It can be easily replaced & it just adds weight keeping me in one place when I refuse to let it go. It's one of my dreams to make new memories with my family & expose my children to different places & cultures. What's one of your big dreams & what would you give or sell to make it happen?
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