I’ve been downsizing lately, and it’s proving to be a huge challenge. There are a few reasons why I need to get rid of stuff, but the biggest one is that I just have too much. I don’t consider myself a packrat, but somehow in my 7 years in Berlin, I’ve managed to fill my fairly large apartment up to capacity. A while back, I decided it was time for a change.

It’s been an ongoing process. Every few weeks, I go through things again and decide to get rid of more stuff. The “sell” pile I’ve started building up by my door is getting unmanageable, so I’m going to have to start listing things on ebay. I think this is partly why I amassed so much. It’s not that I particularly want to keep things, it’s that getting rid of things is really difficult. I’m now committed to finishing the process, and I hope to have more space soon.

Going through things and sorting them into piles to give away, donate, and sell had me thinking a lot about “stuff.” I think I got most of this stuff for a set purpose, but I gave up on whatever that purpose was at some point. For a while, I felt like shopping made me happier, but I think it probably made me less happy. Having too much stuff can feel suffocating, and when you get rid of things, you realize how much money you wasted. Even if you can sell things, you only get back a small portion of what you paid.

I think I’ve learned something here. Once I’ve finished downsizing, I’m not going back. I’m on a shopping diet until forever.