Home Is Where The Heart Is: 3 Things I Learned From Moving 4 Times

We all know moving is extremely annoying and physically laborious.

Doing it once is kind of exciting.

You get a new home, a new town with new people, and there's new places to go and things to see.

Unfortunately, I've moved four times in the past six months.

I first moved from my own apartment into my fiancé's, then I crashed at my parents' when we broke up.

Then I moved into a friend's house, and then ending up in my current boyfriend's house.

It's been crazy, and I've had to deal with a lot of people's judgment and disapproval.

Luckily, you learn a lot from being a nomad.

1. You don't need all that stuff.

The first time I moved, it was from my apartment into my fiancé's apartment, 45 minutes away.

I threw away more stuff than I've ever thrown away because it just wasn't worth making space in my car for it.

I found a ton of stuff I didn't even know I had, like purple Manic Panic hair dye.

The amount of bags I filled with just clothes was honestly alarming.

By the fourth time I moved, I managed to do it almost all in one trip.

I'd gotten rid of so much unnecessary crap in those six months of impermanent homes.

And guess what? I don't even remember what I got rid of.

Your stuff is not that important.

I have spare car keys somewhere. I also have an iPad charger somewhere. I have a lot of stuff that I have no idea where it is, but it's somewhere.

I also left a whole bunch of scarves at my ex's apartment, and they were never mailed to me like I was told they would be.

But, it doesn't really matter that I lost all those belongings because it's just stuff.

It's replaceable.

2. You learn to accept change.

Abrupt change used to stress me out.

My second move, from my ex's apartment to my parents' house for a couple weeks, was very abrupt.

As in, one day, everything was fine, and the next day I was packing my stuff.

All of that moving and changing of environments helped me to learn to go with the flow.

Not everything has to be planned out and premeditated.

My other moves were a little more gradual, but I still had to adjust to a new bed and a new neighborhood.

I had to learn to live with different types of people.

3. You learn to do what's best for you.

I received a lot of disapproval from everyone, no matter where I went.

When I moved to my fiancé's, people (and my old, yet cute car) disapproved of me driving almost an hour to work and back every day.

Living at my parents', I disapproved of myself.

I love my family, but I love them at their house and me at mine.

Once you leave home, it's hard to go back.

Moving to my friend's house, I got disapproval from people again because of the half-hour drive to work, and the slightly unsafe area of town the house was located in.

Moving in with my new boyfriend, my friends said it was way too soon to be moving in with someone.

Through all of that, I just did what I felt like doing, and everything worked out fine.

My car survived all those long drives to work, and my dog got used to being around a lot of cats.

The spontaneity of all my moving kept life interesting, and I'm no longer worried anymore about what will happen next.

I'm enjoying living in the present moment, without worrying about the future or dwelling on the past.

If things ever go bad with my current living situation, and I have to move again, I know everything will be okay in the end.