Along with all of the learning I’ve been doing, there’s also the looming need to downsize all my belongings. We have a 28’ boat, with a decent amount of storage space (for a sailboat), but there will be two of us on it – plus a very active dog!

There is part of me that finds the idea of purging and downsizing to a more simple life very liberating. At the same time, there is still the part of me that is caught up in the materiality that our culture promotes. It’s a side of myself that I’m not overly comfortable with, and that I’ve consciously avoided scrutinizing. I have had to make a conscious effort to be kind to myself, and to go through this process with compassion.

Now that I’ve started actively purging though, I am able to be more analytical about it, and in a good way. I can look at that side and acknowledge that it’s not anything that actually makes me happy, and that objects don’t define my. I’ve started to anticipate freeing myself of a lot of my unnecessary possessions.

I’ve also had to do a lot of thinking about space. We had talked a lot previously about homesteading and having a tiny house, but this will be our first experience of actually living in such close quarters. There will be small wrinkles that will have to be worked out, and I’m sure we will learn a lot of things the hard way. At the same time, it doesn’t seem that daunting to imagine the three of us living happily in such a small space. Instead, I’m looking forward to seeing what it brings out in both of us, and the way that we will learn to grow and accommodate each other’s needs.

This journey has only just started and I’m already finding it enlightening. I think that is part of what draws me to change and adventure – the fact that it makes me examine myself, my life and my values. As humans we are constantly evolving, and at this exact moment in my life, I can think of no better setting than on our boat.