Space is underrated. Not the atmosphere kind of space, I am talking about talking about the bedroom kind of space. The floor kind of space. Owning/renting your own place is empowering.
And what I think is underrated, or rather something I have never quite appreciated enough, is that physical space makes a big difference in one’s life.
In the last six months, I have lived across other people’s spaces.
I stayed on a couch in New York City. I stayed on a couch in Barcelona. I stayed in a tiny dorm in Hong Kong with a roommate. I stayed in hostels and hotels across 27 cities in Asia. And for the past 2 months I have been sharing a room in San Francisco. I know…people have it worse. Some people have no space whatsoever.
I am lucky to have a bit of room to call my own.
But I would barely call it my own.
And I never thought actually having space to live and operate in made a big difference. But I will tell you, first hand, that it really does.
Here, I do not invest in organization. I do not invest in being super clean or anything of that sort.
I do not invest in making this place efficient OR homey.
Let’s be honest. This isn’t a home. This is a box. This is a box that we live in.
Not having my own room for so long – after 20 years of my life of having my own room – I am reminded of the following:
- It is hard to relate to things that you do not understand or have to deal with.
- But once you deal with those things, problems become apparent.
You can only appreciate what you have is another way of putting that.
Also published on Medium.