When I set off on this adventure, I wasn’t prepared for all
of the ways my life would be changed.
Surprisingly, the most freeing of these changes was being forced to plan
for a year abroad with a limit of one suitcase.
Imagine having to carry everything you will need for a year in a
suitcase that cannot exceed fifty pounds. While condensing my life into a suitcase,
I realized how intimidating this task was going to be. Room had to be made for all of the
following: Shoes, sandals, boots, coat,
rain coat, gloves, pants, shirts, socks, swimsuit, shorts, skirt, hat, scarves,
pajamas, toiletries, journals, Bible, pens, tablet, notebook, phone, camera, and
sunglasses. There were some tough
decisions that had to be made. How many
shirts are too many? Did I really need a
pair of walking shoes as well as a pair of sandals? Could I survive with only an eight shirt
rotation? Oh, and let’s not forget about
the medicines which I would need. Medicines
must be brought from home as overseas pharmacies are nothing like pharmacies in
the US. Some countries have common
medicines like Aleve and Tylenol, but the dates are tremendously expired! In other countries, the medicines are not
even recognizable. The chemist will look
you and listen to your cough and you’ll walk away with a bag of herbs. All medicines which I would possibly need had
to be included in that fifty pound limit.
So, I went through all of my clothes and I picked out what I
thought would be the most appropriate for living away from home for an entire
year. Yes….four seasons worth of clothes
that cannot exceed fifty pounds. This
was quite a daunting task. Clothes suddenly
became all about functionality and durability rather than fashion and brand
names. What I quickly came to realize is
that I have a lot of clothes. That’s
shocking as I actually have the least amount of clothing of everyone
that I know. Spending an afternoon, I
went through everything and kept what I could use on my trip and gave the rest
of it to Goodwill. After doing this, I
looked further throughout my home and started going through the rest of my
possessions. It’s amazing how many bits
and pieces that one can accumulate over a few decades. I started getting rid of everything ….furniture,
clothes, jewelry, books…basically all of my “stuff”. The end result was a sparse collection of
things that meant something to me such as photos, a few books, and yes…. my
rock collection.
Living in remote
areas of the world has changed me. The
things that mean the most to me now are good health, hot water, Western style
toilets, daily food, and a bed with a blanket.
These are the things for which I am extremely thankful. I’ve seen too many people without these basic
necessities and I realize that I am one of the lucky ones. Looking around, I realize that I have never
been happier than I am right now, living an amazing life with only fifty pounds
of “stuff” in a suitcase.
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