Yesterday, my IA was something very different than the usual. It wasn't a blog post, editing, filming or even reading, it was only a question that we needed to answer using pictures. "If your house was burning, what would you take with you?" Maybe it sounds like an easy question for you guys, but for me it was quite a challenge. We were told to take pictures of the first things that came to our mind when reading the question, but what would a picture of nothing look like? Now, off course I would take my family and my dog with me, but they can pretty much do it on their own. The problem came when I needed to think about things, physical objects. I believe there is an explanation of why I don't feel emotionally attached to material things. So, it all began when I was very little and I started to constantly move to different countries. As you may know already, every time you are moving, you have two options: 1. Sell all your things and buy everything again in the new country or 2. Take all of your things in a boat and receive them after 3 months in the new country. My family chose number 2 on the majority of the cases, we chose number 1 only for the first two moves. But how does this relate to the homework question? Well, every time this happened, which was almost every two years, I was separated from all of my things for about 3 months, sometimes it took much more. The first time I had to send my things in a boat, I wanted to take almost my entire room in my bag, but after 9 times, I learned that I did not needed all of that, I really just needed clothes, my laptop for school and my cellphone. Now, ask this question to yourself... Can you buy clothes in almost any part of the world? What about a computer? And a cellphone? I hope you had the same answers as I did because clearly you can find all of these anywhere around the world. Thus, do you need to take them with you or can you replace them with new ones? That's when the emotional part comes in. If you are emotionally attached to a pair of shoes, or some sweater, then you wouldn't leave it and replace it with new ones, would you? In my case though, I don't feel I have this emotional connection with any of my things. Maybe it is because I am used to replacing my things very often or maybe because I have never built such a strong connection with a material object. One clear example of this are houses. We were discussing in class how leaving your house would be really hard, I heard all the experiences from my classmates and how they lived in theirs for 17 years, that's quite a lot! And I differ in this aspect as well, I literally have never lived in one house for more than 2 years, not even in Ecuador where I lived 4. So, for me, leaving a house is not that meaningful since I have never built a strong connection with any and since I've lived so many experiences in each house, they are all spread, not in one. Finally, I don't want you to think I am a cold-hearted person and that I don't get emotionally attached. On the contrary, I feel I am a person that gets easily attached to people and cultures, just not physical objects. As I move all the time, it is now easier for me to adapt to changes and I don't see them as a bad thing. I have become used to letting things from my past go and enjoying the moment, so I now become less attached to materials things and focus more on the emotions, the experiences. Now let's go back to that photo of nothing, picture it on your mind. Now add the images of some unforgettable memories you have from your friends and family, incredible experiences you've had... that's what I would take with me, that's what my photo would look like. What inspired me to write this blog post was this Ted Talk and this website: Less Stuff, More Happiness The Burning House
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