The Upsides Of Downsizing

Getting My Move On

In just over 24 hours, the movers will arrive, and the next chapter of my life will begin in earnest. I’m somewhere between exhausted and exhilarated.

The boxes are piling up, the tape is running low, and my back has been yelling at me for days. But somehow, I’m still smiling. Okay, maybe grimacing right now. But soon I will be grinning as I unpack, settle in, and do what I love most: DECORATE!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love decorating? If not, I do. Rearranging furniture, finding just the right place for that sentimental knickknack, turning a blank space into my home office. Those are my jams.

I’m definitely that gay guy—the one who tears up during Architectural Digest home tours, the one with strong opinions about overhead lighting, and the one who feels a spiritual connection to all my art and vintage photos.

But here’s the twist: while I’m an interior design maximalist at heart—give me layers, texture, personality—I also spend an embarrassing amount of time watching videos about minimalism, capsule hotels, and tiny houses.

I find these videos soothing. Inspirational, even. Do I have any plans to live in a van or a converted shipping container? Absolutely not. I’m way too big (and tall) to fit in most tiny houses and I’m way too attached to my collections (yes, plural). But I do admire the intention behind those choices. The freedom. The focus on what really matters.

And maybe that’s what downsizing from a two-bedroom house to a studio apartment (with a bonus room and garage) is giving me: not a stripped-down version of life, but a clarified one. A chance to edit. A reset.

There’s something strangely beautiful and energizing about this chaos—the boxes, the bubble wrap, the dust bunnies of past lives stirred up under furniture. Every item packed is a decision made. Every “keep” and “let go” is an act of becoming.

It’s work, yes—but also transformation. And underneath it all, there’s an excitement pulsing through me: I get to choose again.

New space. New layout. New light.

Yes, I still have to grin and bear it through the last bit of packing. But very soon, I’ll be grinning and loving it as I unpack, create, and celebrate the freedom of a fresh start.

Downsizing isn’t just about having less stuff. It’s about focusing and making space for more of what matters. And for me that includes joy, intention…and probably more art and vintage photos than necessary.

Let the next chapter begin!

Keep calm and carry on….
Clint 🌈✌️

P.S. For those who are curious, I’m not officially out of the house until the end of the month. Which gives me more space and time to finish cleaning out and cleaning up. Do I know how to have fun or what? 🤪📦

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ICYMI = IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• MONDAY = Rested (But Not Relaxed)

• TUESDAY = Phillip Johnson

• WEDNESDAY = Landmines + Lost Treasures

• THURSDAY = Nikola Tesla: Was He Or Wasn't He?

• FRIDAY = The Calm Before...The Move

• SATURDAY = Simplifying My Love, My Loves

• SUNDAY = WTF = What The Fat?

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ON THIS DAY = JULY 14

BIRTHDAYS

• 1454 = Poliziano = Italian scholar and poet 🌈

• 1610 = Ferdinando II de' Medici = Italian aristocrat 🌈

• 1862 = Gustav Klimt = Austrian painter and illustrator

• 1894 = Dave Fleischer = American animator, director, and producer

• 1910 = William Hanna = American animator and Hanna-Barbera co-founder

• 1912 = Woody Guthrie = American singer-songwriter

• 1917 = Arthur Laurents = American director, screenwriter, and playwright 🌈

• 1918 = Fred Baur = American chemist and Pringles founder

• 1918 = Ingmar Bergman = Swedish filmmaker

• 1926 = Charles Pierce = American female impersonator 🌈

• 1926 = Harry Dean Stanton = American actor, musician, and singer

• 1930 = Polly Bergen = American actor and singer

• 1932 = Del Reeves = American country singer-songwriter

• 1932 = Jim French = American photographer and Colt Studio founder 🌈

• 1938 = Jerry Rubin = American activist, author, and businessman

• 1960 = Angélique Kidjo = Beninese singer-songwriter, activist, and actor

• 1960 = Jane Lynch = American actor 🌈

• 1966 = Matthew Fox = American actor

• 1970 = Randy Boissonnault = Canadian politician 🌈

• 1983 = Graham Ackerman = American gymnast 🌈

• 1986 = Dan Smith = British singer-songwriter

• 1987 = Dan Reynolds = American singer-songwriter

• 1988 = Conor McGregor = Irish mixed martial artist

EVENTS

• 1853 = Opening of the first major US world's fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City.

• 1895 = Karl Heinrich Ulrichs dies in Italy at the age of 69. Ulrichs was an openly gay lawyer who was among the earliest to call for the repeal of Germany’s sodomy law, Paragraph 175.

• 1960 = Jane Goodall arrives at the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania to begin her study of chimpanzees in the wild.

• 1969 = Easy Rider is released in theaters.

• 1983 = Mario Bros. is released in Japan, beginning the popular Super Mario Bros franchise.

• 1999 = The Blair Witch Project is released in theaters.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• Bastille Day

• International Non-Binary People's Day

• National Nude Day

• National Tape Measure Day

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PORTRAIT + QUOTES OF THE DAY

“The demons are innumerable, appear at the most inconvenient times, and create panic and terror. But I have learnt that if I can master the negative forces and harness them to my chariot, then they can work to my advantage.”
Ingmar Bergman

“The doors between the old man today and the child are still open, wide open. I can stroll through my grandmother's house and know exactly where the pictures are, the furniture was, how it looked, the voice, the smells. I can move from my bed at night today to my childhood in less than a second.”
Ingmar Bergman

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