Shifting Sands
Hi, All!
How have you been? 🎈
Since my early twenties, I’ve loved living lightly and being able to move around with ease and live and work from different places. But as G and I look for a new home in Europe, which requires us to do just that, I realize I’ve become top-heavy.
G’s and mine combined material possessions are worth 5 m3 of moving boxes, which is the same volume of things we had five years ago. Thus, it’s not so much an increase in materialism weighing me down, as is my increased attachment to the known.
Today, when I imagine working from X for a few months, I dread the idea of having to settle into a new routine again and needing to find a new coffee spot, a trusted butcher, a place to wax my legs. And I know I’ll miss my work setup, coffee kettle, and yoga mat.
The rewards of discovery no longer seem to outweigh the known sounds and silence. And although I welcome the shifting sands, I also can’t help to wonder if I really can’t root without being attached.
Words
After five years in Singapore, G and I decided to move back to Europe. In Goodbye, Little Red Dot (and My Ultimate Singapore Favorites), I explain why Singapore makes for a comfortable home and why we left anyway. Finally, I close with a list of my favorite coffee spots, restaurants, parks, and a bit more.
Here’s how it starts:
I watched G watch Singapore for the first time, holding my breath more often than taking it. I had been to Singapore once, and yet based on that 3-day trip alone, we had decided to move. But it wasn’t until now that the thought G may not like the place flooded me with worry.
To my advantage, the taxi driver had taken the scenic route, and as we came down from the palm-tree-lined airport road, Marina Bay appeared in all her nightly glory. I saw the corners of G’s mouth turn up, and in his eyes, the glow of the bay intensified. →
Quote I’m Pondering
We insist on steering our boats because we think we have a pretty good idea of where we should go, but the truth is that much of our steering is in vain—not because the boat won’t respond, and not because we can’t find our destination, but because the future is fundamentally different than it appears through the prospectiscope. –Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness
With love,
Mirha
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