following a common idiom, i removed an abundance of weight from my shoulders disconnecting from my previous lifestyle. although my backpack has been packed for a couple of months, in my anticipation and determination to travel, i’m realizing the weight i had once shrugged off of my shoulders was only waiting, in a different flavour, to be lifted and placed back in its familiar position.
just as the responsibility of finances are believed to be felt greater in the handling of cash over credit cards, i believe the responsibility of possessions to be greater felt while physically upon my shoulders rather than in some rubbermaid container in a shed.
i’m feeling more and ever aware of the differences between a consumerist lifestyle, of amassing possessions and expanding a planted footprint, versus a vagabond lifestyle, of sacrificing and prioritizing possessions in the efforts to reduce a mobile footprint.
it is a commanding feeling knowing that my experience traveling is near dependent on the twenty-five kilograms on my shoulders. not that if they were stolen or lost that my aimless direction would immediately gain direction and point to the nearest airport, but i don’t believe for any minute of my life that i have ever quantified my previous possessions and imagined their limiting effect on my personal capacity.
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Speaking of possessions, you’ll enjoy that Airbus A340 flight down, that Canon g9 camera, the Netbook, the Blackberry, that MEC backpack, North Face boots, VISA in the wallet, corporate travel health insurance…..
… the only thing delicious and fleeting will be that 2 foot hot dog with a pound of mayo you’ll have with a litre of cheap beer in Chile. Already dying to see all the pics all those possessions will afford ya!!!