Clutter To Clarity: Traded My Suitcase For A Backpack

Before now if there were awards, I could easily win an award of cluttering my suitcases when I have to travel because of the reason I always give if asked... What if I would need it there?

My mum will say, of course you'll need it there until you get there and realize you can actually buy to use there or can do without it. I didn't grow up with mum but from phone calls and our few Meetups about my travel plans, mum would always disagree with my cluttering habit.

At first, it felt like she was just trying to make me be like her (that lady hates too much in every sense lol) and I wasn't taking it positively. But gradually and after many instances where I returned home too tired and place some items back in their spot, realizing I didn't even use them, I had to rethink what mum had been saying.

It's one thing to be excited about your journey by packing up your luggage with whatever thing would be useful, it's another to relax before, during and even after the journey by packing light. I've experienced both and it's been packing light over anything since my first experience of it.

I can not start explaining what happened in the travel experience I call the "worse ever" because I went with too much. But let's talk about the "first best" that changed my mind about cluttering my journey.

It was mum's lifestyle as I've said before but not acknowledging that, the worse experience helped me decide conclusively for what I knew was better. I went from carrying suitcases whenever to using a backpack. What came with this decision were a lot to not give it up.

The reduced stress, increased mobility (no need to struggle with my suitcase), lower transportation cost, more time for experience in the journey and less time for luggage handling. Imagine how relaxing and comfortable such a journey can be like.

Does this happen to only me? You travel with so much, you have to deal with extra stress in packing, unpacking and having fun will be debated because you have to watch your things if in a public place when you're on your way there or returning.

Minimalism comes with Essentialism: Over time, I've come to understand what it means to travel light or go with only the essentials. Most times, I end up unpacking from my suitcase into a backpack after thinking it over if I really need some items or not. It's funny how we think more about the things we need in a journey than what we may experience during that journey.

Focus on people and places, not stuff: Minimalism has helped me focus not only on my experience in journey but also the people I'll meet and the places I'll go to there. What I have in my backpack have their uses as I make sure to take the only the essentials, so they need not my focus at all. Being mindful and ready for uncertainties, have been the order of my journey experiences now.

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