How do you pack your suit case?

When I travel for business, I pack light. I can figure out exactly what I will need for my trip, and that’s all I bring with me. But when I travel for pleasure, well that’s another story!

When I go on vacation, I break out an extra suit case and max out the allowed carry-on bags. My time on vacation is much more spontaneous, so I tend to pack a lot more because I’m not sure what I might need or want with me. On personal trips, I’m packing to make my time away comfortable and convenient for me rather than efficient.

Some years ago I visited Italy, and when I left Rome bound for Venice I found myself rolling two large, wheeled suitcases through a busy train station while shouldering a couple more bags. I had stuff for days, stuff for nights, an over-packed gym bag for workouts, and a little extra space for momentos to bring back home.

Invariably, when packing for pleasure, I always wind up taking with me more than I need. The extra stuff just becomes a burden to lug around. And when I get home and unpack everything, I wind up shaking my head at how much stuff I hauled around that I never needed.

That’s often how we pack our lives.

What we carry around in us each day is what we think we need or want to have with us. Often we pack ourselves in an effort to provide comfort and convenience rather than for an efficiency of living. The problem with that is, invariably, we wind up lugging around a bunch of old stuff that simply serves as burdens to bear rather than being anything of use to us.

Are you dragging around a bunch of old stuff that serves more as burdens than anything else? Have you packed into your life some things you need to empty yourself of? How can you lighten your load and still have all that you need for today?

Scotty