life in motion
and taking a pause
When life is in motion, it can be harder to slow down and write.
This month, my husband and I have been progressively living in disarray as we sell larger items in our apartment. We are selling just about everything before we travel for our honeymoon and then around the United States, while still working remotely.
Giving ourselves a month to sell everything has helped excuse ourselves from some stress later. We’ve been utilizing Facebook Marketplace and stoop sales. In Brooklyn, it’s more common to bring items you hope to sell just outside your brownstone for people to look through.
However, change like this can be difficult. There are moments of glee and moments of sadness of what we’re leaving behind during our adventure. It truly is bittersweet.
At the end of the month, we will be more or less nomadic, without a home base to call our own. We had invested into our apartment nearby Prospect Park, Brooklyn, creating a space of greenery and life alongside our large bay windows and beautiful, pre-war apartment molding.
We figured this was the time for us to explore and see what it’s like to live beyond New York City which as been our home for the past 7 years. This is the place people dream of living and we have had this luxury for years. As our priorities change in the next few years looking into our next chapter, we want to travel and see what it feels like to have a yard, a car, and a kitchen island - all things we haven’t experienced in our various city apartments.
As much as we absolutely loved our 1.5 bedroom apartment with high-ceilings and modern appliances, there were aspects of it that were imperfect. And as my husband and I continued to grow together, we started thinking more seriously about our future and setting ourselves up for success. Through our last 3 years in this apartment, named our friends’ favorite based on style and location, we have outgrown our galley kitchen with limited counter space and found ourselves wanting a living room we more could easily host gatherings. We began to dream more of a separate work space from an art studio - like a 2 bedroom apartment or house. Since we don’t have access to our brownstone’s private outdoor space as it belongs to our downstairs neighbor, we’d look out from our 3rd floor window and picture us planting, reading, creating, spending time with friends, playing with a dog, and one day, a kid…
The only way to figure out if another place is what we want is to go and experience it.
Then, we can feel it. So here we are, selling all our belongings to fly around the United States and beyond. Although this feels like a long time coming, as we step closer to our move date, I’m feeling a bit more tethered to that bittersweet feeling.
I’m already getting responses to our choices “I could never do that but wow, good for you,” “I can’t believe you’re just selling everything; I’m so attached to my furniture,” and “What a liberating feeling that must be.”
Friends who have adventured like we’re about to do have told us these can be typical responses to a big transition in someone’s life. I’m responding with a thank you and that this is the right next step for us, even though we don’t know where this exploration will take us. When someone close makes a big life change, it can cause others to question their choices. I’ve done the same vice versa so I am empathetic to this.
As the ones making these decisions, we just have to stay true to ourselves and go with it, no matter what others think about it - both positively and critically.
Under my current layer of craze and hyper-focus, there is undeniable excitement ready to burst as we board onto our first plane, as newlyweds. We’ll be starting the next chapter fresh with the future ahead and its arms wide. Free of extra, we’ll have what we need and learn about different places as well as ourselves through this process.
Since life has been in continuous motion recently, it’s been more difficult to slow down and write here. I’m sticking to at a post at least every month if not more. Stay tuned for adventures ahead.
Nice!
So very excited to follow you adventures. ❤️