Right now I’m sitting outside a Starbucks like I often do. The reason I come here is because 1) I work at this particular store so I don’t usually pay for drinks, and 2) it is within walking distance of home. I was at home cleaning out my room and the garage, looking for things to sell or donate. The idea of minimizing what I own is very appealing; it’s always been somewhat a romantic fascination of mine but something I’ve never done well with. But…
Yesterday I sold one of my guitars. Now I only have five guitars. Upon exchanging the guitar for money with the guy I didn’t feel anything like I’ve felt in the past when parting with possession I value. This time I just felt a slight exhilaration knowing my physical presence here is that much smaller; I owned that much less shit. One more thing I never have to think about. I hope to repeat this feeling multiple times and to promote that I have put all but one of my guitars online, as well as a bunch of camera equipment.
For my upcoming move I had originally planned on taking a 50-liter backpack. Andrew and I went out with some friends and walked around River Legacy, in Arlington, for a few hours with our bags loaded up with all the things we intend to take with on the move to Southeast Asia. sidenote: The last time I moved across the world I took about four times as much stuff. A slight difference is the fact that I had a job (and a place to stay) upon arrival. This time I have neither, so traveling lighter is mandatory. Compared to last year I felt 50 liters was a success but I still felt like my bag was over-sized. So…after sitting on the floor of Backwoods, a local outdoors store, with Shawna, Lauren, Andrew and three backpacks strewn about me, I ended up buying a 33-liter backpack with better internal organization. This blog post has totally strayed from my original intent.
In case anyone’s interested, I will write another post later that analyzes how miserable a person can be while lounging around sipping overpriced drinks, contemplating the extreme comfort of their life why that comfort is so discouraging. I hope you all will let me know if you have any thoughts of your own on this matter!
p.s. I’ll update the post with pics of my new bag later–it’s so cute!!