I've written before about how traveling has influenced me towards having less stuff. It looks like
I'm not the only one to have had this experience:
When I go on vacation, I tend to overpack. I usually take a big suitcase crammed with extra clothing, electronic gadgets, and, most of all, books. I take lots of books. This time, despite being gone for three weeks, I limited myself to a single carry-on sized suitcase and one daypack. This seemed like a triumph, but after just a few days, I wished I had packed even less.
More importantly, I discovered that I could live without. I lived without my books, without my comics, without my CD collection. I lived without my fancy digital SLR camera, or my Nintendo Wii, or my DVDs. This Stuff never entered my mind. I didn’t miss any of it. If I could live without these things for nearly a month — and feel liberated doing so — what might it be like to give up some of this Stuff permanently?
Read the whole thing and be sure to reach Paul Graham's
essay about stuff. Also check out my previous post about
how to travel the world with carry-on only.
I've written before about how traveling has influenced me towards having less stuff. It looks like I'm not the only one to have had this experience:
1 comment:
Recently I joined a buddy on a sixty mile, six day backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon. My friend insisted we go light. We sawed off our tooth brush handles and trimmed everything down to the point where we crossed over the South rim carrying 23 pounds each, including 8 pound of water. We carried everything we'd need for the entire six day with the exception of water replacement. Traveling so light we didn't need such heavy boots as we customarily wear either.
Not once did we miss anything we might have brought. When we passed people encumbered with 50-60 pound packs, they would often ask how we got so far into the canyon on a day hike. They were flabbergasted to discover we weren't on a day hike.
That was my first lesson in minimalism and it has really stuck with me. Less is better. We are all way to encumbered by our STUFF!
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