Summer Vacation

Have you ever packed for a Summer Vacation only to find that you use 1/10 of the stuff that you bring? 

A couple of days before I left for a weekend wedding in Montreal and then a week at the beach I became preoccupied with how I was going to fit all of my needed stuff into the “one small suitcase” that my well-intended husband always suggests.  “You don’t need all that stuff”, he’ll say. I tend to agonize over the multitude of potential calamities that call for my attention in packing.  The proverbial “what if” shows up and ramps up my anxiety.  What if it rains, what if it snows, what if I don’t want to wear that, what shoes will I need, what if I want to work-out, and what if I need that sweatshirt?  I respond by attempting to squeeze everything I own into a small piece of luggage that should fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane.  My expandable compartment of my luggage is no longer operable, due to my attempts to squeeze things in.  I stuff, then stuff some more, and then I have to sit on my suitcase to zip it shut.   As I unzipped my suitcase today, it popped open like a Jack in the Box and I jumped back and laughed at the multitude of things I never used or needed on my trip.   Now I have a bunch of unnecessary laundry and a whole bunch of cleaning up to do. 

It occurred to me how many things we carry around psychologically and emotionally that we really don’t need.  Similar to how we pack for a trip, we pack up our psychological and emotional distress as if it will somehow protect us from any forthcoming potential calamity.  The truth is, that most people carry around way more than they need and pack their psyche with more than it can handle.  Stress and anxiety comes from forcing one more thing, when the truth is we just don’t need one more thing to carry around with us. 

So, think about the things that you are carrying around with you.  How can you lighten your emotional and psychological load so that you don’t need to repair your expandable psychological and emotional luggage?  What can you get rid of?  The truth is, when you get there……….you probably won’t need it.  

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