19 September 2012

Keep On Keeping On

Moving is definitely not my favorite thing.  Not even close.  For one thing, moving-- and more specifically packing-- makes me acutely aware of just how much junk I've managed to accumulate over my relatively short lifetime.  Why on earth do I still have English notes from fourth grade?  Am I afraid I'm going to forget what a sentence is and need to refer to them?  I mean, geez!

So then I feel pressure to take the opportunity of moving to purge extraneous items from my life.  But how far to take such urges?  True, I probably won't need my couch for the next several months, but I'll probably want a couch at some point in my future.  Wouldn't it be wasteful to dispose my current couch?  What if I don't have the cash for a couch when I eventually want one again?  Wouldn't it be easier to just have my couch on standby?  Am I over-thinking this?

Moving is also stressful because of all the loose ends you have to run around trying to tie up before you go.  Saying goodbye to friends, forwarding mail, settling up with landlords, selling one's house, disconnecting utilities.... the list seems endless.

And then of course there's the other end of the move: finding a new job, a new house or apartment.  Should I look for roommates?  Will my dog be accepted?  How do I make new friends?  What's in my new neighborhood, anyway?  Where can I find good doctors, dentists, veterinarians, restaurants, hair dressers?  What? I have to build up a new relationship with absolutely every professional I rely on?  And that will probably take months?  Possibly years?

And on top of all that, I have to unpack all the items that somehow made it from old house to new, and I have to find appropriate places for all those items.  And once again I find myself wondering if I do indeed have too much stuff and shouldn't I really just go ahead and purge some more?  True, I probably won't need my spare blankets, but won't I probably want them.....

Moving embodies an endless cycle of self-torture. Just when we think we're done with the process, something comes up and off we go again.  





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