What About Stuff?

I’ve not been online much for the last week or so because I’ve been busy moving.  Packing personal and household stuff to take from one place to another is always an interesting exercise in the ‘what about stuff?’ zone.

Living a lifestyle which is primarily mobile isn’t the same as living one where one is grounded to a piece of landscape.  Even counting the storage space which was really already packed for the most part, there wasn’t all that much packing to do.  Still, it was enough to fill a 14 ft. rental trailer and a fairly big 4 Runner Toyota completely.

Thank goodness for a space to put it all on the far end, but ‘what about stuff?’ is the question of the week for me.

The stuff in storage, for the most part, is a collection of articles I haven’t even laid eyes on for more than a moment for the last four years.  I’ve had the chance to take a peek inside all the containers in the last week, but still haven’t gotten to sort out the details of each of them.

How much of this stuff is stuff we really need?  These are the thoughts going through my mind.  Certainly there are treasured items, family pictures, tools for living and beloved books, extra clothes for winter, bedding, and more.  But to me, what is stirred in this move is the balance of the cost of moving it vs the cost of replacing it with what is current and needed in the now.

Who owns who, and what the … ?  Do I own the stuff or does the stuff own me?  Regardless of what the stuff is, there is the cost of carrying it, storing it, moving it, and on and on…

Our fine hostess is also facing a similar task of dealing with her parent’s household stuff, preparing the house for sale and emptying its contents.  Hers is a truly daunting task, as they lived a long life and had collections of many wonderful things, many of them very precious and old.

Many of these items also stir up memories which are attached to them, being family heirlooms, so this adds another layer of processing to these tasks of sorting and decision-making.  Still, to keep it all is out of the question.  One would be buried by it!

We have been moving stuff, and stuff is also moving powerfully in our minds and hearts while doing these tasks.  What will be saved, what will be given away or thrown away?  What will be carried forward or utilized in the now?  How will it all be arranged in our assigned (and limited) spaces?

These seemingly mundane tasks carry with them so many potent and poignant mental, emotional, and spiritual elements.  This isn’t something one would necessarily notice when considering it from outside of the task itself, but when immersed in the process, oh my, how obvious and strenuous it truly is.

I suspect that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye, not only for us here in my tiny circle, but for all of us.  Similar circumstances seem to be happening for others that I network with too, in terms of sorting out stuff and/or trying to determine how to move into the future and what to take with us as we do.

I can’t wait for the replicators!  I hope the future holds a small cube (like maybe a dice), that will produce all my needs.  Time to move?  Put it in my pocket and go.  What a lovely dream that is!

In the meantime….