What Living Out Of A Suitcase Does To Your Perspective
Living out of a suitcase can either be one the most difficult or one of the most liberating things you can do. Some people may deem it as something they could never ever possibly commit to, ever. But then again, as with most things in life, you never know until you’ve tried. Here are some of the things I learnt when I found myself living in the same place I’ve always lived, but with much less stuff.
You realise how little you actually need
Here’s a scenario I’m sure we can all relate to: you’re sprawled in front of your suitcase, painstakingly deliberating over which pair of shoes you need the most for your trip. You find it impossible imagine a scenario without either of them, so you pack both. It’s almost like it’s a gospel rule that you can only tell upon arrival whether you’ve made the right call or not. Usually you haven’t. It’s the same when applied to everyday life, before living out of a suitcase I probably used only half of what I owned.
You Can Be Happier with less
Joy does’t come from the amount of stuff you have, it comes from engaging with the wold in a meaningful way and the freedom to move around without restraint. Living out of a suitcase makes it easier to say yes to spontaneous plans like trips, outings and the lot, for when you have less of your own stuff to look you have no choice but to tune in to the world around you more and start seeing it afresh. After all, if you’ve got less stuff with you you’ve literally got less to lose, right?
It’s easier to get rid of stuff after
Living out of a suitcase definitely allowed me to see for a short while what I actually did use out of the stuff I had, allowing me to seriously purge from my home all the things I was just holding on to in the vain hope that it could be useful one day. And the strangest part about it all was that I actually enjoyed cleansing my wardrobe. I personally find you are much more appreciative of the stuff you have after.
I realised I was in Control
We get so bogged down these days by all these things we feel we need to do, people we need to see, jobs we think we need to stick to – but it’s all an illusion. At the end of the day, the only people we have to control is ourselves, and if we’re not happy we are the only ones who can make those necessary changes. Having less stuff to clutter your perspective and getting out of your usual environment, even if only for a short while, can greatly help you gain some much needed clarity.
It is inevitable that your perspective on things will change when you’ve committed to living in a certain way for a while. For me, the biggest thing that living out of a suitcase did for my perspective was feeling less shackled to one place. I found myself being uncharacteristically spontaneous and a lot more assertive.
