Magic
"Is it so small a thing
To have enjoy'd the sun,
To have lived light in the spring
[...]"
(Matthew Arnold)
40
Lightness and heaviness
Since I will be moving to a more permanent accommodation soon, on the weekend I decided to pack all the objects I live with to relocate them to my office over the coming days, and then to my new apartment. The new apartment is close by, it's across the bridge from where I'm staying. If I owned furniture or other large-scale items, I would need a car and moving services. The objects I will welcome in the new apartment are the same ones that I brought with me from Sweden and a few extra items that I acquired here in Finland (mainly a towel and some new documents). This move, just like the one from England to Sweden and the one from Sweden to Finland, is largely stress-free because there are very few objects to relocate. There is an overwhelming sense of lightness and even anticipation: in the new apartment there will not be any of the furniture and objects I don't use (perhaps except for a dishwasher and an oven). For example, in the current apartment there is a tv, a toaster, and a coffee maker.
In the new apartment, there is no washing machine/laundry room. Perhaps I shall welcome a washing machine into my life but it can also be so that I will wait before I buy one and give myself the gift of washing clothes by hand for a while. When I lived in England, I once took a break from using the washing machine, and washing everything by hand was a beautiful and meditative experience. For these therapeutic benefits I generally avoid dishwashers and vacuum cleaners.
Overall, relocating with very few items, all of which I enjoy sharing my life with, feels good. However, recently I've had several conversations with my fellow humans which made me contemplate the importance of avoiding glorification/romanticisation of this extremely minimalist lifestyle of an academic nomad. The extreme minimalist part of this lifestyle is my personal choice for ecological, aesthetic and spiritual reasons. It makes relocation easy and pleasant. Wherever I go, I travel light and only with the objects which I intentionally invited into my life and which I like and find useful. Extreme minimalism makes relocation less expensive, home insurance is also more affordable.
Yet, there are enormous and multiple downsides to academic nomadism. Below are a few that I've experienced. Naturally, the constellation of downsides and benefits is different for different people depending on what they value, but somehow I believe that such experiences are common. For some, these downsides may be dealbreakers. For others, some of these downsides are actually benefits.
Separation. The human being I shared my life with decided not to move from England to Sweden with me. This is understandable since he had his career, home, and family in the UK. I moved to Sweden and then to Finland on my own. On the one hand, it could have been easier to move together with someone, to share all the beautiful moments, navigate the new environment together, share responsibilities (e.g., looking for a new home, researching how different systems work). On the other hand, I'm glad I moved on my own. It could be extremely stressful for the other person. For instance, my partner valued stability, security, living in a large apartment, and living in the country where he belonged, appreciated the mild climate, had friends and family, and spoke the language.
No kids. When I was growing up, my family relocated a lot for career related reasons. Even though they relocated within the same country, it was not a good experience for me. Different schools, skipping school at times, different climates, different people and lifestyles. Moving from a large city to a remote rural area was a huge change. There was no stability and nothing I could call my home. At least, the jobs were permanent and incomes were stable. In the past few years, I've lived in England, Sweden and Finland. It would not be a good experience for my children if I had any. Moreover, none of the contracts that I've had were permanent, so I have to consider my income as temporary. Even though having children is a personal choice, at this stage of my life I believe it would be irresponsible for me to have children, and considering my age, I will probably not have any.
No pets. When I left England, I had to leave my pets with my partner. He wanted to keep them, but even if he did not, it would be irresponsible to take those pets to Sweden and then Finland with me. I miss them immensely. My apartments in both Sweden and Finland are much smaller and my working hours (often self-imposed) are much longer. I wouldn't have enough physical space and time for my pets. In Sweden I would not know anyone who would look after them when I was away. Moreover, relocating would not be a pleasant experience for some of those pets due to their age.
No plants. When I lived in Sweden, I had some plants which I had to re-home. People usually don't treat plants in the same way as pets, but plants are also living beings. I loved the plants I had a lot but could not take them with me because I could not carry them all the way from northern Sweden to southern Finland.
New systems. It takes time to get used to a new system. Migration, transportation, healthcare, education, pension, insurance, banking, renting and so on, even though there are similarities between Western and Northern European countries (especially between the Nordics), there are also differences. Exploring new systems can be interesting, and it also depends on one's approach to difficulties, it inevitably requires energy and can be frustrating.
The unknown. When I moved to northern Sweden, I had been to Sweden before then but not so far up north and I had never lived in Sweden. Visiting a country is different to living there. It's difficult to tell how one would feel living in a country long term. For me living in England was very difficult due to extreme inequality which affects everyone because it undermines society as a whole, every aspect of it (see Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010). For some it's difficult to get used to harsh northern climates and a lack of sunlight in winter.
A sense of impermanence. This is something I learnt to embrace and honour over time as a characteristic of existence in general. Things can and do change even when one's life is overall stable. But it took some time for me to develop a worldview which accommodates and even celebrates impermanence.
No end in sight. Related to the point above, it is impossible to know when this nomadic lifestyle will end, whether it will, and where I shall settle (if anywhere). As I'm getting older, I wonder if at some point I will be less tolerant to change.
Expenses. It is expensive to move. Extreme minimalism and having no kids or other dependants makes it more affordable, but there are other expenses such as ones associated with migration (e.g., residence permit, tickets, id card, renting temporary accommodation). Renting can be expensive, and contemplating a mortgage always feels uncomfortable because there is always a chance that I will be moving elsewhere.
Community, friends and family. I find it difficult to stay in touch with people when I move. It is easy technologically but this is not the same as spending quality time together. Essentially, it is easy to lose one's support network when one relocates, and this makes going through challenging times especially painful. It is also difficult to build a good support network when one is staying somewhere only temporarily and when others (e.g., colleagues) know that this is the case, i.e., that most likely you will be gone within a few years.
Migration. As a British national, I know that I would have to leave Finland when my contract (and hence my residence permit) expires. It is wise to apply for jobs far in advance the end date of one's contract, and if one gets a new and better job it can shorten their stay by rather a lot thus making it perhaps less meaningful. For instance, I lived in Sweden for 1 year and 4 months. It was wonderful and I fell in love with that country, but it was not enough time to build strong personal and professional connections or speak Swedish fluently.
New life. Building a new life is not necessarily a downside, but it takes a lot of energy. New favourite places, new friends, new culture and work culture, perhaps a new language, different climate, everything is new. I notice that every time I moved to a new place, my autoimmune condition returned, which is unpleasant and can be frightening when the healthcare system is different to what one is used to.
Reference
Wilkinson, R. and Pickett, K. (2010) The spirit level: Why equality is better for everyone. Penguin Books: London.
39
Home and furniture-free living
My wishes for a new home are serenity, smallness, light, and space. Since I arrived to Finland in the end of December, I've lived in a temporary accommodation which is an aparthotel. When moving from peaceful northern Sweden, my fear was that in Helsinki it would be difficult to find a place which is in line with my needs. I fell in love with a nearby island when I went for a walk there. The island is a part of Helsinki, but very close to Espoo and hence to my university. New apartments will be finished in the end of February. I went there to feel the space, talk to the people who are building those apartments, and to see the apartments which are already finished. I'm glad that the apartments are unfurnished, so I can finally practise furniture-free living and invite all the light in. I had an opportunity to practise this lifestyle only once and only in one part of a rather large apartment which I shared with another human being in another country.
I prefer furniture-free living for many reasons. Sustainability is one of them. Production of furniture requires materials and energy. However, one can get second-hand furniture or honour the furniture they inherited or were gifted, so living with furniture is not necessarily unecological. Fast furniture is of course problematic. Another reason is aesthetic. To me, no furniture looks and feels as good as does 'empty' space. Angles, various hights and various materials do not feel as calming to me as does floor-based living with soft and natural fabrics. Yet another reason is spiritual and relates to non-attachment to material objects. This mode of living also encourages me to move more. Furniture-free living should be a personal choice, it's not a sustainable lifestyle in itself.
37
The rock from Sweden
"Whenever I turn to an environmental issue, I find myself intensely aware that other, nonhuman eyes are upon me: our companion creatures looking on, hoping that their bewildering human cousins will see the error of their ways." (Roszak, 1995, p. 1)
Reference
Roszak, T. (1995) Where Psyche Meets Gaia. In Roszak, T., Gomes, M.E., and Kanner, A.D. eds. Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. Sierra Club Books: San Francisco.
36
Simple everyday practices: trying to live with less single-use plastic
"‘So, where are you from?’ This seems easy enough to answer, but this question that many ask, usually as small talk when you first meet someone, is difficult for me to answer, as I have lived in and consider myself to be from many different places. So for me, the answer is that all the many places I have lived are where I am from. Not the simple answer that the questioner might be expecting, or even wanting." (Page, 2020, p. 19). The same seems to apply to objects and supply chains.
Reference
Page, T. (2020) Placemaking: A new materialist theory of pedagogy. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh.
35
Simple everyday practices: body
Natural Finnish and Swedish-made water-free ointments in glass and aluminium packaging.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)