Declutter Your Life and feel happier

Declutter Your Life detox your soul.

If most people live up to their 80’s I am half way through my life. At 44 I have lived in Brazil, USA for a year, New Zealand where I had my son, Australia, Brazil for 6 years, Dubai for 12 years flying all over the world as a flight stewardess. USA for 2 months, Thailand for a month and now I am in Italy where finally I managed to gather things I have acquired from all these places and unbox them in a farm house.

I feel tired just writing it as I just opened the last box. For many years I have lived packing and unpacking suitcases while working for Emirates airlines. I used to say I had an apartment in Dubai to do my laundry and keep my shoes and clothes. I don’t think I am the typical compulsive shopper, but I wonder how I have acquired so much while I unpack these boxes.

After I resigned from my job  in Dubai, I sold everything… I sold by whole apartment for a couple who was starting their lives. What I charged did not even cover the cost of the sofa, however I was ready to start light in my new journey moving to USA with my partner and I felt good helping them starting their lives.

We flew to California with 4 suitcases and we really believed that it was all we had (for the time being). That thought made us really happy as we wanted to believe we had become minimalist. After 2 months in California we came back to Dubai where we stayed during the lockdowns from March to June. We had the basic: some furniture and personal items.

In June we purchased a house in Italy and we decided to pack everything and get shipped to Italy ( even before we saw the property).

The shipping would take around 3 months to arrive, we were told; that would give us enough time to finish our time in Dubai in hotels, spend a month in UK ( quarantining before arriving in Italy) renovate the house while staying in a B&B and finally we would have our furniture.

Well, that was the plan. We renovated the house in a month and lived with the basics that came with the house. We had no sofa, or a nice bed. We got a table but refused to buy much more as our things were about to get here… and so we waited and waited.

Well, we only got our stuff yesterday after 5 months ( long story and of course blame it on Covid). So yesterday we spent the day unpacking the furniture and today we unpacked the boxes with thousands and thousands of things we did not even remember we had or missed.

I missed having a nice sofa and a comfortable bed but everything else ( that you just realize that you have when you move), I did not miss at all.

While unboxing everything, going through all the souvenirs bought in so many different countries over the years and things that I really never used I felt extremely uncomfortable.

I realized that theses things did not belong in my house or my life, not only because it is a new life and a new house but mainly because when you start a new chapter you don’t really need to drag the stuff from the other chapters. This house did not welcome the ridiculous amount of cosmetics, shoes, bags and rattletraps that I had.

I did not want to throw it all away because I am sure I could donate some of the things and it would be useful to some people. So I packed again it all in big boxes and left in the garage…. Away from my sight….

Looking at all the objects the only thought that came through my mind was : it would be nice to show my grandkids one day and tell them the stories behind each thing, however, I wonder how many more houses I will have to go through and how many more packings and unpacking I have to do in order to keep it all and what I will acquire from now on. So, I decided that, pictures will do and I am sure they will have a great imagination and will picture it all when I tell the stories.

Wrapping it up, I now understand what people mean when they talk about uncluttering and how amazing it feels. The more you realize that you need less and less to live the lighter you feel. I feel freer knowing that I have nothing to hold me in any place. I am still trying to have only two suitcases, and I am sure that will take a little more effort, but I am sure I can get there.

I feel freer now. Uncluttering and starting to live a simpler life with less things feels amazing.

I have managed to not carry anything with me that does not make me happy. Judgements from  people, friends who are not real friends, situations that annoy me. I feel the same now about material things; if they don’t serve a purpose, if they don’t belong, they have to go.

Uncluttering is really an emotional and energetic thing, because is not only having less things but mainly it is about understanding that we do not need all these things to live happy and comfortably. It is about making space to what really matters: experiences, travels and good times. It is about having free space to let the energy flow in the house. It is being free to move around without having to carry your past with you in a bag each time.

Try it, I recommend, once you go through the initial pain or emotion, you recognize that you didn't need those items at all , your feelings and memories stay with you no matter what. Getting rid of those items that no longer serve you can help us to stay mindfully focused on the present rather than weighed down by the past.

Zara Teixeira

remotelifecoach.org