When about to travel it is the age old question, what do you choose to take with you? Can I get away with carry-on or have I got so much I need to check in and be delayed, weighed down. Crowded House sang you should ‘always take the weather with you’…for the rest of us non rockstars there are of course the essentials, but after that…what else follows you around?
My rule has always been under ten kilos check in (never more than what you will put on during any glutinous trip), and I have spent years travelling the globe proud of how little I take with me (not choosing to weigh upon return – the baggage that is!). It is so easy to pack more, keep old things, build up your essentials over time…but these get in the way of you being nibble for any opportunities that come up, slow you down when on the wrong track (sometimes literally, remember that Grand Canyon sing-along train!) and are barriers when carving out a new path.
During a morning run (ok, ok – walk) to Sculptures by The Sea at Bondi (Bondi – cough, w&&nker, cough) I came across Trip by April Pine. It visualised perfectly the thought…from travel to daily life, what do we carry with us, what do we leave behind and what is in our shadows? Furthermore, what weight do we allow these to have? The last one is easy, only that we give them.
As the familiar warmth of the sun burnt off the morning’s haze I looked at the surfer and knew, I need to use my surfboards more (yes ok – or at all!), that I had given a weight to aspects of my ‘essentials’ which in fact are non-essentials and should be left behind as these were putting me over the limit.
For what you pack to take with you daily, weekly or on a trip is yours alone to make. Look at the surfer in the image…take only the good, enjoy the sun (ideally an endless summer) and leave the rest behind.
To the person who made me realise this, I am eternally grateful. To everyone else, what do you choose to carry?
Ps. anyone got surfboard wax I can borrow?
Yes, the imagery is compelling. Take what you need for the moment and leave the rest behind. Lets go further. I think that people that take more than they need, fear the future … fear the unexpected and doubt their abilities to cope. But there is irrational fear and rational fear. Irrational fear, in my view, often comes from your unstructured and often irrational subconscious mind. It regularly drives your feelings and “inner voice”. Quite often that inner voice is no help to you in achieving your goals. So you over pack to go back to the image. You are right when you say “take only the good …”. Listen to your inner voice and decide what is going to get you further along your path in life; the path you choose. Anything else that your inner voice tells you should be discarded. That’s an important life skill. Goal set through!