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Let It Go, Let It Go: The Freedom of Shedding Stuff for New Horizons | Day 278 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Oct 7, 2023

Let it go, let it go

This day we spent in Rohit's apartment. We had the pleasure of meeting one of his friends, who had just arrived from Great Britain before the two went off to Barcelona, and we borrowed our friend's apartment all day.

After three weeks of walking and some days at the beach, it was a great relief to be inside. It is interesting how privacy is a basic need we rarely think about in our family. And yet, when we sometimes have it, it is special. We spent hours treating our broken hair and showering; we washed our clothes, cooked real meals, hung out at sofas, worked, and studied. Sighed.

In the afternoon's heat, we cleared the rest of the spaces in the van. More books to go through, more stuff in corners to let go of, more clothes to say goodbye to. Looking at it all with fresh eyes, many things are old and worn; many dreams are from a past idea of the future, things we thought we would do but never did.

It is such a mess to clear out. Everything was in order, squeezed into all possible spaces of the van, and now it is all out and chaotic, up for debate. And it does not seem worth re-organizing, as we will empty the van before we go to Mexico.

We just did it in the street. It is so hot these days, and the humidity is above 70%, and there are hellish many mosquitos - so doing the clearing in the street closer to the ocean, rather than at La Bassa where there is no escape from either heat or the bites is a clear preference.

It is all logistics these days. Then we went to Bassa to donate the stuff and pack what needed to return to Denmark, went shopping and refilled the van with water, cooked dinner, watched a movie, cleared out the apartment we had borrowed for the day, and drove off to sleep by the ocean.

It is a lot of clearing out. We have let go of SO MUCH STUFF. It is a bit like losing weight, this. One thing is the big letting go, but the next level is not gaining it back. Stop the shopping. Stop the hoarding. Really, in the future, all I want is a backpack and a van, horizons, adventure, love, friendships, learning, exploring, writing, and growth.

I don’t need a lot of things for that.

The truth is I need fewer things for that.

With love

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Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
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Unschooling and Parent consulting, conversations, blogposts, and podcasts on family life and learning

Hi, I'm Cecilie Conrad. I'm a trained psychologist, mother of four, radical unschooler and full-time traveller. I have lived with unschooling for over a decade and help other families find their own path – whether it is about homeschooling, unschooling, or the bigger question of how you want to live as a family.

I offer guidance, conversations and talks. I call my work grandmothering – not coaching in the traditional sense, but presence, professional insight and concrete help navigating motherhood and finding your way home to your own values.

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