I am in the process of packing, moving, unpacking, constant transition. It is so exciting! It is, also, very eye-opening. Do you ever realize how much STUFF you have? If you're a college student like me and move somewhere new every year, you probably have some sort of grasp on the volume of it all, but all you oldsters who have been living in the same house for years--I'm not sure if you can put your head around it truly. Stuff, stuff, so much stuff. It is mind-blowing and upsetting to me in a way. In the past couple years I have taken up backpacking, and on every trip I've been on I remember all over again why I love it so much: it is so wonderful to have everything you need on your back. Self-sufficiency is a beautiful thing. So you can imagine my dismay in viewing the piles of junk I had to move down and up so many stairs, in and out and all around different places. Now I get the pleasure of ditching the vast majority of my THINGS to take only what is essential on my new adventure. This will feel good.
The other thought running through my head as I scramble to ready myself is my joy and frustration in the way we define ourselves in terms of other people. I am my mother's daughter, my siblings' sister, and so many people's friend, coworker, lover, partner in crime, the list goes on. I like that I am these things to all these people. In fact, I love being all of those things. But now, as I leave all these people whom I belong to or with, I am questioning those definitions. Am I not still Julia in South America? I will be a whole new group of people's Julia, I suppose. I will soon belong to many people who may not even know I exist at this very moment.
I hope they are ready for me.
they're not. LOL
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