Two weeks ago, we moved into a new place. It’s still not a home that we own, but it’s a home nonetheless and one that we plan to stay in as long as possible. Though we’re really happy here and know that it’s the right place for us right now, it’s still weird to me sometimes that we live here. Our decision to move and actually moving happened so fast, that it doesn’t seem real sometimes, or I forget that we’ve only lived here for two weeks. Moving, like most life experiences is a great way to learn things, whether it be about yourself or others. Today I thought I’d share a few things I learned over the past couple of weeks.
Perspective is a big deal. Your last place will now seem way too small, the colour wrong, etc, even if you loved it for two years.Christopher and I have now lived in three apartments together. The first one was so tiny and old (though slightly renovated) that when we moved into our last place, everything seemed so much bigger and brighter. Now our living area and kitchen are almost as big as our entire last apartment. Perspective really makes a difference.
Communication cannot be overestimated. Communication is important in all aspects of life, but we learned how important it is when moving. We had a really bad experience leaving our old place because of a lack of communication on our part and our past landlords. When things are communicated properly and those expectations aren’t met, things do not go well. Dealing with back and forth text conversations after you’ve spent the day moving and cleaning will leave you more exhausted than you thought possible. Be very clear about your expectations of others, and know what others expect of you. You will save yourself a lot of hurt and anger and sleepless night(s).
We have too much stuff. I thought we had decluttered a lot before we moved this time, but the amount of boxes that we moved in would say otherwise. Why do we have so much stuff? Do we really need it? Probably not, but I’m really good at convincing myself that we do.
Books are heavy. I’ve moved five times in the last five years (that sounds like a lot, but I’m counting moving out of my parents house, then back for a few months), and each time I have moved all of my books. In those five years, I’ve added to my collection quite a bit (especially since I was working at a bookstore for three of them). Every time I move, I seem to forget that books are heavy and annoying to pack. It won’t stop me from buying books though (especially since I have two free shelves right now).
People will surprise you. In most life experiences, people will surprise you and do something different that you would do, or different from what you expect of them, and moving is no different. I was so impressed by the people who helped us to move this time around. We of course had help from our families (especially my parents and Christopher’s brothers), but the help that we received from a few people at church really blew me away. We had some time conflicts with the help we were supposed to have originally, so we were a little stuck a few days before the big day, and reached out to those in our ward (congregation), and those that were available and came to help out did so much more than I was expecting. It was also interesting me to that those that were the biggest help weren’t people that we were close with at all, they just wanted to be of service, and for that we are so thankful.
I’m so happy to be done with moving for a while, and though we still have a bit to unpack and organize, I’m feeling settled here, and am looking forward to many years (hopefully) spent here before we are able to purchase our own home. I’m also so glad that I’ve had my husband by my side this whole time to help with heavy lifting, be my sounding board, and remind me to breathe and take a break when I’m getting burnt out.
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