Packing

This is what it looks like when you are trying to pack for Christmas. And for 4 months in Southeast Asia. And you have to move out of your apartment. All at the same time. This photograph was taken yesterday at about 2:00 pm, after we had been trying to pack for about 4 hours. I wish I could say that now, on Sunday night, the apartment looked much better, but unfortunately, it still feels like a bomb went off in here.

We live in a furnished studio cottage. Most of our belongings have been in storage for months. Why is it taking us so long to get everything packed?

It is amazing how much "stuff" we accumulate in our lives. It becomes really obvious when you are trying to consolidate everything you own into a small storage unit. And the truth is, we probably don't need all that stuff. You just gather it up as you move through life, and suddenly, you have this giant mountain of things. And of course, some items are important and useful, but much of it could go away and we wouldn't miss it.

I'm not being sanctimonious. I'm not saying we should stop buying new things or that it is wrong to get joy or happiness out of buying new things. You should see all the stuff we have purchased in preparation for this trip. (Evidence: travel pillow, see previous post.) I'm just realizing, through the exercise of packing our lives away, that we really don't need all this stuff to be happy. Duh.

For the next four months, we will be together and we will have everything we need to survive and be comfortable in small packs on our backs. I can't think of anything more liberating.

This is what is getting me through the torture of packing.