Bags and Baggage.

Hello Friends!

 

I know this post is long over due but rest assured the next will follow very shortly. So with goodbyes and thank yous out of the way, let's start at the beginning stage of this trek: Bags and Baggage.

 

An abridged excerpt from my 2011 Travel Blog: "Oh the places you'll go"

 

"It is spectacular how many ways there are to pack a bag and plan a trip. In preparing, you pack everything perfectly and neatly; however, once you get to the first destination, you start to rip through the organization, undoing the order and introducing chaos.

 

When repacking for the second destination in the itinerary, you are faced with questions on how to organize those things that are no longer in the order you once planned. Do you embrace the chaos, letting all worries go free and embrace a new way to organize your belongings and plans? Or do you fall back on the same system you began your journey with?

 

Similarly to a bag, life can be planned in so many ways and often times the best moments are made from plans gone a rye. As I look to the future, I want my outlook on life to be to embrace the chaos."

 

What I love about this post from back in 2011 is that it truly has framed how I approached this trip and how I'd like to hold myself accountable to approaching life.

 

I remember prepping for the last trip and it was horrible! I spent hundreds of dollars on travel clothes/gear and countless hours trying to figure out how to pack everything perfectly and tightly into my backpack. People kept telling me I would need this and that and this. Having never truly traveled on my own for months at a time, I let people who had never traveled my path dictate my packing list.

 

The end result was a bag with a ton of baggage. Similar to a trip, in life we often times let the fears and expectations of others influence the list of needs that we have for our future. We create lists upon lists of needed "titles", "promotions", "experiences" and "material possessions" that we must acquire in order to be happy. This becomes our baggage in life. We let these needs weigh us down as we venture on our journey towards death. We forgo opportunities that may truly make us happy in order to acquire a need on the list.

 

My greatest fear is that I am in a rut, attached to my list. On one hand business school could be the experience that liberates me from the path I am currently on and on the other it ties me harder to a path that is not true to who I am. How do I startle the line of forging a new experience with out tying myself to path that is not for me? The latter will only lead to regret but the former is unknown and in such has risk.

 

Prior to leaving for this trip, scores of people readily offered up advice and input on what I needed to see, what I should pack and how I should do it. It was incredibly touching to see so many people wanting to take stock in my happiness. I must admit that at times, it was difficult because while I was authentically appreciative of their gesture and time, I feared that I was acquiring too many expectations for my journey. It was difficult to consciously listen with out committing to another's journey. FOMO, it can rule us all if we let it.

 

Jeff, Luke, Diana, Kelly, Aunt Maureen, Mom and so many others: THANK YOU! Thank you so much for the one off pieces of advice and the many stories of your travels that inspired me to jump unknowingly into the trip. Thank you to those that put me in touch with new  people whose stories would further expand my perspective of the plethora of experiences I had to chose from. Knowing so many paths made it that much easier to identify. Thank you to those who gave me confidence in the moments of panic I had with out a path. In particular, Mark Williams, who sat and listened to me over a bottle of wine. Our conversations, I truly believe are shaping my purpose.

 

As a result, for this journey I did not plan or think about it. I simply grabbed my yoga mat, 2 shirts, 2 shorts and some medication i.e. malaria pills, vitamins and as my friend, Chad, puts it: "pills to make you stop pooping and pills to make you start pooping." I figured I might as well just buy things as I need them in Thailand, that I'd make decisions to go places on a whim and with out worry.

 

So far it has worked out perfectly! Over the last week, I bought 7 tanks for less than 10 bucks. Not too shabby, eh? I've seen a temple, explored a city with a new friend from Chicago, walked a market with a shoe designer, shared stories with some fellow travelers from Britain, watched a ping pong shoe in the afterhours of Bangkok, booked a trip to an Island to learn to scuba dive and taken time while laying in bed to reflect on my past. 

 

For now, I am living in the moment. No baggage, no regrets.

 

Until next time…

 

Yours truly,

W. M.