It's funny, we haven't moved that many times since adulthood, but in some ways I find it cathartic, even though it leaves me exhausted. If you are anything like me, you throw stuff in a box that makes its way to the basement. Ten or twenty years later, you find that you never bothered to open the box! So much for keepsakes.
I've done moves literally around the corner and virtually across the country. To some degree they all involve the same amount of work. We tend to pack our own high value things-- much like you would your hi-fi gear.
My point, if there is one, is that it is a good opportunity to "deaccession" or dump stuff you don't need. Not all may be junk- it's just that it outlived its usefulness for you.
We downscaled on our last move, partly b/c we didn't want the upkeep, cost or running expenses of a big house. That required even more careful planning in terms of what to keep and what to get rid of. Many things made their way to friends, so I viewed that as a positive- not just increasing the size of the landfill/dump, but giving away things that people actually appreciated.
May also be a stage of life thing. I'm at a point where I want less- I like quality, I like good things, appreciate a fine rug or a piece of art, so some of this stuff will probably remain until they haul me off to the nursing home or burning pyre. But, the process of sorting through the artifacts of your life can be liberating in a way if that makes any sense.
Good luck on your move.