After 10 years of living in our current townhouse, we’re actively looking to move. Of course, moving is never fun, but I am looking forward to a new space. We’re aiming to get a smallish detached house somewhere within the city, but in a completely different and quieter neighbourhood.
I grew up originally in a typically suburban Canadian house, but then moved into a tiny apartment (in a new province) when my family split apart. I remember the shift of having a huge backyard to run around in, and then suddenly having life compressed to a series of four small rooms.
In many ways that shift, and the distress of that family split, has lived with me all this time. I am frequently obsessed with optimization, planning, and harbour an over-consideration for others — all byproducts of some difficult years spent in that tiny space.
Only recently, because of our current project, have I realized that when I can spread out, when I don’t self-constrain, I can genuinely flourish; I can do a lot more than I thought I could.
I think I can be a better person when I have a bit of a yard to run around in.