The moment we decided to move to another country, we started to purge! And purge we did! Holy moly…we had no idea how much stuff we had! After 13 years of marriage, 4 kids, a few moves, and lots of generous hand me downs from family, we had accumulated so much stuff! Too much stuff. It was an eye-opening experience that had us striving for a simpler life.
In the packing process, we sold ¾ of our belongings and packed a 20-foot shipping container to sail across the seas to New Zealand. We packed the essentials and extra clothes and shoes for the kids to grow into. Not knowing what would be available in New Zealand, we packed as much as we could into the shipping container so we would have all of our needs met. We felt like we did a great job at paring down.
But after living out of our suitcases only for 2 months as we waited for our shipping container to join us, we grew quite content with our simple life. Once our belongings arrived, we realized we still had a lot of stuff!
We have enjoyed getting rid of stuff little by little as we realize what we do and don’t need. And we’ve realized that stuff does not matter. Stuff weighs you down. Stuff consumes your time and your thoughts. Moving to another country has introduced me to the idea of minimalism and the pursuit of focusing on what matters most.
I love the concept of minimalism. I love that it’s a different definition for everyone. I’ve enjoyed reading books and listening to podcasts on minimalism and exploring the ways to live a more meaningful life. One book that was full of golden nuggets was Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life. Joshua and Ryan say,
“Minimalism is a tool to eliminate life’s excess, focus on the essentials, and find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.”
Our family is continually striving to simplify our life. Not so much so that we go without or deprive ourselves of material possessions & happiness. But, a simpler life where we focus on people, experiences, learning, opportunities, growth…the things that matter most. We’re trying to focus less on materialism & excessive consumerism and more on living life and not collecting things.
It feels good to focus less on material possessions and more on memories. More on what matters most. More simplicity.
