Moving as a power tool
Introduction
Moving houses, cities, country, schools... Changing spaces is a fear for many.
Over the course of my life I've moved houses 8 times, in the last 3 years I've moved 6 times and over the past 365 days, I've moved 4 times. For some people this might seem like a lot, for other this might be nothing. But what I want to talk about today is the power that changing spaces gives, the power of changing environments.
This post contains...
🏠 Moving as a tool
🧘🏻 Moving for de-cluttering
🛣 Moving for reset
🗓 Moving for creating habits
🔗 Sources
Moving as a tool
As I said, changing spaces is a fear for many. Stepping out of what you're used to for something new can be a struggle, having to set a new routine when you've set one already, having to get used to new things... However, as everything in life, there's a positive side to it.
Your good AND bad habits, your personality, your friends; they are all bound to a specific environment. You may associate journaling with your bed, being a calm shy person with your school or work colleagues and a very talkative person with your holiday friends.
When you change your environment, it can be your house or the country you live in, you have a chance to reset all these things, to be a new person, create new habits, break old ones...
Moving for decluttering
From the perspective of a person who hates owning too many things and just having things around. Moving is the best excuse to throw everything out. To free your mind as if you were starting again. No clutter, no drawers full of useless things, no boxes with things I don't need to keep.
If you're a hoarder, this might sound dreadful, but honestly try it out, it gives you a sense of freedom. For me, this alone is one of the main reasons I love moving houses.
Moving for reset
Now to the real power. Reset.
How many times have you wished you could start all over again. Do you ever feel like you've assumed a certain role in your friend group which you'd like to change. Or that who you are in that specific place is getting in the way of who you're trying to be.
This is one of the reasons so many people chose New Years to set goals. It gives you a sense of a clean slate, which is kind of a false one since your life is pretty much the same, the only thing that changes is the date.
This is a chance of a real clean slate, take it.
Moving for creating habits
And now onto the how. How can we reset our lives towards the life we want and the goals we want to achieve.
Habits, habits are the key. To create habits we need systems, but those systems that are wired into our brains are very hard to set and change, especially when all you have is will power, which don't get me wrong, without will power you're not going anywhere, but you need something else. Here is when changing environments comes in handy.
Let's say in the house you live in, you can't work at your desk because you get distracted, this is probably because in that same table, you do other things that are not work related, and your brain has associated that area for non-work related things. Now let's say you move houses and you have a new work area, you can decide what your brain associates that place with, if you only do work in it, when you decide to do work there, your brain will make it easier.
"Old habits die hard", but if we avoid stepping into that situation that made us behave that way, it is much easier to stick to something.