0086

I'm in my 20s. I live in the downtown of a major city, and I have for the majority of the last decade with no signs of stopping. As such, I live in an apartment in a highrise building. Most of my friends fit this description as well - young, downtown, cosmopolitan. Most of them also live in apartments of some kind, ranging from one to two bedroom, high rise to walk up to six flat, luxury rental to mundane condo.

I think it's really interesting to see how people keep their space. How they make it unique and faithful to their own styles. I think it's important to be true to yourself when figuring out your living space, which can be surprisingly challenging if you're doing it for the first time. When visiting apartments and living spaces belonging to my friends, I used to judge them as either good or bad, whether I wish I lived there or not. Now I judge them as how true they are to their style.

One realization I had was that it's important to fit the size of your space to the amount of stuff you own. I used to have a two bedroom apartment and only too late realized that the apartment was too big for my, like an oversized shirt that hangs to my knees. It was nice when people visited, but I just couldn't fill it with enough intentionality and detail to make every part of the space feel lived in.

Now, I have a slightly smaller one bedroom plus den and that feels just right.

I know some people who'd probably struggle to fill up this amount of space. People who seem like they fit just right into a studio apartment. I also know some people who's personalities are so expansive that they could definitely fill up two bedrooms of space. I even know some couples who seem to struggle with three.

I don't think it's necessarily a good or a bad thing to need more or less space, no more than your height or waist size is. I think it ties to minimalism - having a small amount of stuff might be sign of organization and prioritization, like in Marie Kondo's philosophy. If you have a lot of stuff it might be because your hobbies and activities and personality is so expansive it spills out of you into the space and walls and floor all around you.

I think that people who have lots of space might end up filling it with stuff just for the sake of having that stuff. I've noticed that in myself as well; extra space can end up slowly accumulating piles and piles of things just because you can. This might be a little bit minimalist of me, but I like it when you have just enough space that you know everything you have and where it is. Not so much that you lose track of thing amongst the clutter.

I kind of like it when you have enough space for most of what you want, but not quite all of it. When you're forced to make some slightly tricky choices about what to keep and what to get rid of. When you know you've chosen to keep something at the expense of something else, it forges a much stronger connection to that item. It might even become sentimental, and being surrounded by things that you sacrificed other things for is, in my opinion, a very cozy feeling.

Of course, the amount of space you need definitely changes over time. If you're living with others then the living space becomes a group project; a collaboration where the end result may be greater than the sum of any of the individual parts. Even aside from that, I think that as you grow as a person your living space can grow alongside you, to reflect the changes and dilemmas you may be going through. In general, I really do like to see spaces as extensions of people so my own should all be an extension of myself.

I also like to think about this in terms of renting vs. buying a property. I know there's all sorts of financial and practical reasons to pick one or the other, but for me personally those considerations pale in comparison to the aesthetic reasons. I kind of feel that owning a property, owning a literal piece of land, a piece of the earth, doing that is a spiritually heavy decision.

I think that buying a home somewhere I feel connected and rooted to, a piece of land located in a place I like that I want to claim as my own, would be a very satisfying decision. Anything short of that, buying for investment or insurance or to be a landlord, wouldn't feel right. Similarly, I like the vibe of renting because it's inherently temporary. If I know I won't stay somewhere for long, I want to make decisions that aesthetically align with that. Maybe that reasoning will change someday, but for now it feels good.

Right now, in my one bedroom plus den apartment, I feel quick snug. It fits like a glove. However, I could see myself wanting to move next year when the lease is up. I'm starting to theorize that luxury apartments are not my vibe. I do certainly like being high up in the sky, but the rest of it just might be a little bit too much. Things shouldn't be this easy and convenient - I should have to deal with a leaky faucet and squeaky hinges and a tempermental boiler. Maybe, I'm still not positive. Also, some older Chicago apartments are a bit fussy but also incredibly beautiful and I feel like maybe I could go for some kind eccentric scholarly recluse vibe. I'm not sure?

I also think that if I work hard, then maybe by next year my personality will be big enough to fill up a two bedroom space. I guess we can hope.