If you’ve ever dreamed of embracing the minimalist lifestyle, I recommend packing to move abroad. My whole life is currently housed in two suitcases and a duffel bag. Yes, that’s all I’m able to take. Initially, this horrified my inner book-hoarder, but upon reflection, airplane weight limits might be the best thing to have happened to me.
Here’s the thing: I have too many books and too many shoes (this is what happens when a. you’ve worked at a bookshop, and b. one of your best friends owns a shoe store). I made great inroads into decluttering my life this summer, but despite multiple trips to buy-back bookshops and Goodwill, my closet is still full and my bookcases are – if not quite overflowing anymore – very well-stocked. I know no one needs seventy pairs of shoes and literally hundreds of books, and yet... How on earth could I manage to narrow down what to pack for this move? After all, don’t I need my copy of Wollstonecraft’s Vindications with me at all times?! Isn’t anxiety everyone’s normal response to looking at their too-crowded bookshelves?
The prep for this move was like that advice everyone gives about writing: just think about other things because your brain will work out problems while you sleep. My brain worked all summer, so when the day came to actually put the things into the bags, I knew pretty well what to pack. It still took the better part of two days to successfully win suitcase Tetris, but I did it.
I stuffed my whole life into just two suitcases and a duffel bag. There are definitely things I wish I could’ve packed (chief among them a flapper-style dress and a pair of rainbow heels), but when I look at those bags, I realize I have everything I need. I have an umbrella to protect me from the rain, a coat to shield me from the cold, a nice black dress to wear in any situation, sturdy boots, a pair of ballet flats, and a swimsuit – just in case. I have a toy plush tuxedo cat to hug, since I have to leave Felix in the States; I have a snickerdoodle-scented Jane Bennet candle. These staples, these treasures, warm me through. Everything I need. How lucky am I? In this realization, I feel a sense of gratitude and peace beyond measure.
(And okay, yes, I did bring about a shelf’s worth of books. You can take the girl out of the bookshop…)
(The few little things I fit in my suitcase to help me stave off homesickness: a wallet I got ages ago from Modcloth; a comfort read, Betsy and the Great World, by Maud Hart Lovelace; a Jane Bennet candle from Paper & Slate by Mary Kate Wiles; a print of "Harry Potter Skate Night" by Casey Robin Art. Photographed by me.)