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We fill our lives with clutter

After a few weeks packing up my old house, I have learned one thing: We fill our lives with things, mostly things that have little meaning.
Endicott
Christine Endicott

After a few weeks packing up my old house, I have learned one thing: We fill our lives with things, mostly things that have little meaning.

I arrived in Squamish nine months ago with only what could fit in my vehicle: a few boxes of dishes, clothes, my bicycle and skis. My daughters, aged 20 and 17, had stayed behind to live in our family house in Prescott, Ont. while they finished out their year in university and high school.

What I found, after a few weeks of this minimalist lifestyle in Squamish, is that there were very few things I missed. Initially I was desperate for a table, chairs and bed, so I bought these right away. Eventually I also acquired a couch and side table for the living room where I could relax with friends or a book, but once I had that, there was little else I desired.

A co-worker who visited my apartment at the time remarked: “Wow, you’re a minimalist.”

I hadn’t been a minimalist in Ontario, but I discovered that living clutter-free was refreshing. I went hiking and worried little. Cleaning was quick and easy.

The only things I missed were my stereo and speakers, as music has a way of making a stressful life more relaxed.

My daughters came to visit and remarked on how little we actually needed in life. We missed almost nothing from our packed, big four-bedroom house. We briefly toyed with the idea of moving nothing at all to B.C.

But then we realized we would never again have our piano, the guitars that belonged to my late husband, and our photo albums filled with memories, and it made sense to bring our own comfortable living room furniture and my daughters’ bicycles, so I returned to Ontario for two weeks to pack. And of course, despite the purging, I packed much more than planned.

Now our new place is filled with the trappings of the North American lifestyle. I have three sets of placemats, two types of blenders and three hammers. I have a Bundt cake pan that we haven’t used in 10 years and cookbooks we rarely open.

Some of the items were for gifts on birthdays or Christmas, but much of it was driven by the Western tradition of shopping as a hobby. We read a flyer and decide we need a smoothie mixer.

The moving truck arrived Thursday, and as I unpacked the boxes, I found there was little that excited me. Now I am pining for my old clutter-free, easier lifestyle.

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