The answer is easy: be as busy as you can.
These past two months have been crazy. So many things have happened and sometimes I’ve felt like a robot who is just doing everything on automatic pilot. I’ve tried not to overheat and not stress too much because everybody knows what happens when you do that. All the things that have happened have been nice things, but in order for nice things to happen you need to struggle a bit (or a lot).
But we all need some busy times to appreciate our “normal life”. I guess the definition of normal varies from person to person, but for me it’s that kind of life where I actually have time to think about what I’m doing and not just do things without thinking. Having a lifestyle where you can take your time to think about things may sound luxurious to many people but I believe it’s necessary to be fine with yourself, and I’d really recommend it to everyone. It’s very important because if you only go full speed forward and never stop to think, I feel that you lose your focus easily. What happens to me when there is a lot going on is that I start to focus on little things. For example I start convincing myself that cleaning is the number one priority even though that’s a big lie. You can clean later, there’s no cleaning police behind you.
So why am I talking about cleaning?
The biggest change is that we moved to a new apartment. I had a very ambitious plan to clean all our floors in a way that we don’t have to wear shoes at home and now the project is finished and I couldn’t be happier! That’s one thing I really missed from Finland. When I lived in Finland the best moment of the day was when I was able to leave my sweaty shoes at the entrance. I believe that now that the summer is here and the temperature is rising from day to day, nothing feels better than walking barefoot. Also the cleaning part in the future will be a lot easier. 😀
When I was packing and cleaning I realised that this kind of lifestyle where you don’t own that many things is amazing. Most of the apartments that people rent here in Barcelona are already furnished and that makes everything a lot easier and more ecological. If you compare it to Finland (of course there’s furnished apartments in Finland but it’s not that common) here you don’t have to buy everything for your new apartment and rent a van to move your furniture around. It’s madness to start selling and buying your furniture all over again many times across the years. I know some people see themselves reflected in the things that they own and that the spirit of the apartment comes from what they’ve bought but I also believe that you can get used to everything that comes with a furnished apartment. Maybe in the beginning it doesn’t feel like it’s your home and you feel like the things around you are not completely your style but after a while I’m sure you will get used to things around you. I also think that we were lucky to have a furnished apartment so we were able to move most of our things by bike. We had to use a taxi ride only once. How convenient!
Moving to a new place is always stressful and I’m really glad that now we have a bigger apartment to do things. When you live in a small room, you don’t have that many options to do and you prefer to spend your time somewhere else rather than at home. I’ve been living many years in small rooms and I can tell that this is very refreshing. You can actually move your arms around freely and do all kinds of activities, like exercising in your living room. Simple things that probably many people take for granted. Don’t take it for granted, use your space when you have it.
All that I can say is: it feels good to have a home.
– Eeva
