Packing | My Last Night in Copacabana

Journalled on Friday, 5 May 2023 | Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 26 degrees, warm, sunny, and with a breeze.

Friday, the eve of moving from Copacabana to Flamengo.

I was up early; an early class was cancelled the night before, so I could have a good workout at the end of Leme, probably my last in Leme. If I do not work out in Leme tomorrow, my next will be in Flamengo.

My class starts at nine and ends at four, which means I will only have the evening to pack and prepare for tomorrow morning’s move. First, I need to pack Yasmin’s things, mostly clothes and books. I have put all her stuff into separate large plastic bags so she can sort it out later at her mother’s place.

I had bought twenty bags from the local supermarket, each with a twenty-kilo capacity. Of course, I carefully wrapped her more delicate things, such as ornaments, jewellery, drawing items, etc., in newspaper so they would not break, and placed them in some large boxes.

I folded her clothes into the large bags, hoping she would recognise them and her things when she received them the next day.

I also gave her bedroom a quick clean and tidied it up to leave it in decent condition. I repeated the same process with my things. I used large plastic containers to store books and odds and ends so nothing would break, and I put my clothes and shoes into large industrial plastic bags.

I also dragged my large inflatable kayak from the bottom of the wardrobe, where it was in its holdall, into the living room. I put everything ready to go in the living room to check what was and wasn’t prepared and what still needed to be done.

After cleaning out Yasmin’s and my things, I think we’ve done about 80% of the cupboards, wardrobes, etc. During this packing process, I also looked for things I no longer needed that I could throw away or give away.

I think getting rid of things in life is important for many reasons.

The main reason is that when you intentionally remove things from the past and make space for new ones, you open yourself to new possibilities. Your life, therefore, improves and becomes more straightforward, lighter and more fluid. Besides, how can you acquire new things if you don’t have space physically, mentally, emotionally, or metaphorically?

Many people nowadays like to hoard a container load of stuff. I think it is linked to a sense of insecurity; maybe when a person has more stuff, they feel more secure and robust in their life.

Why do we often see homeless people in the streets carrying or even dragging loads of bags, etc., with stuff they do not even have a place to put? It isn’t logical, but it’s part of human nature.

Maybe we should fight this natural tendency to hoard and do the opposite; minimalism has a lot going for it, and although it simplifies our lives, we don’t need as much to be happy. I think I finished packing 80% of what I needed to do by 10 p.m. I was tired and wanted to go to bed.