1 Bag. 1 year. 50lbs.

Just me. Being clumsy. By the Pacific. No bigs.

1 Bag. 1 year. 50lbs.

The title of this blog post says it all. 1 Bag, 1 year, 50 lbs.

But, what will this post actually cover you may ask?

Details on how she skillfully packs her stuff into a bag to travel across the globe and tips on how she does it? How many shoes? How many tops? 1 handbag or 3?

Or, is it a symbolic ‘Life Thought’ post dedicated to the trip she’s decided to take – her life in a bag to last her one year? What does she really need physically, mentally and emotionally? What does she need to shed to get her where she needs to go? People? Friendships? Romanticships? Mindsets? Limits?

Well, I think it’ll be a bit about both.

To physically ‘pack my life up’ into a bag, to travel from the Caribbean to New Zealand, at first I thought would be a very overwhelming task. But, I did what I always do when I tend to feel overwhelmed – before I even let the thoughts truly get to me, I said to myself “Stop. Cause ya know if ya go any further you’ll slip and slide and go straight to crazy. Breathe. Take it one day at a time”

Packing wasn’t THAT intimidating as I considered myself a decent “packer”. For four years I packed up every 4 months or so going back and forth between Antigua (my home) and Canada (where my university was) for school. But I also wasn’t a pro and this was different. I essentially had to put my whole existence into a bag. How does one even begin to do that?

The trip itself was unlike anything I had embarked upon before for numerous reasons :

1. I was kind of on my own. There would be no aunties or sisters nearby who could bail me out.
2. I was going to NEW ZEALAND. Who knew if their clothes would even be the same?
3. I wasn’t going back to Antigua in a couple of months if I forgot something. What I brought is what I brought.

So, here are a few things I took into consideration when I actually began to pack (for those curious in the packing ‘technique’ here’s where you take notes):

1. What do you need to live life? Your essentials? Phone, Money, passport, medication etc.
2. What is the temperature going to be? Pack accordingly.
3. What are you going to DO out there? Live? Work? Play?
4. Pack clothes that are versatile – if you dress them up they could go fancy, if you dress them down, they could be casual. That way you’d have 3 outfits for 3 different occasions in 1 if necessary.

The list goes on, but I’ll actually go into more detail about the technicalities of packing for such a big trip in another post soon.

In regards to 1 bag, 1 year, 50 lbs – my life, I feel as though I had begun to make the necessary arrangements for me to make such a large move very early on – months if not even years in advance, I planned for the day I’d leave for this trip. For example:

1. Family wise – I warned/told my family about me wanting to do this about a year or two ahead. I’d bring it up in casual conversation when they would ask “So what is it you’d like to do with your life now/ what are your goals?” You know, that after University question everyone hates. (I had just moved back home to Antigua after studying in Toronto for University for 4 years)
2. Job wise – I purposely searched for and took ‘temporary’ jobs because I knew I didn’t want to be tied to a job when the time came for me to leave. (Got 2 jobs on contract – 1 was for 3 months, the other a year – to facilitate this)
3. Relationship wise – Being always on the move (Canada – Antigua), I didn’t get seriously involved with anyone. This wasn’t hard to maintain, as I knew I had places to go.
4. Finance wise – I didn’t get involved in anything that would ‘tie me down’ financially either in Antigua per say – E.g car payments, insurance (I’ll tell you if that works out), leases or anything else that could be reason enough for me to stay.

I reduced the number of things I could/would use as an excuse for me to stay in Antigua from the start. Cut out the things for me to convince myself that this wasn’t a good idea.

I think the combination of these ‘moves’ helped me pack up my life when the time came. The life I lived in Antigua for 2 years was essentially geared towards me leaving at the end of it for New Zealand. My mind was set from the get go. It was funny, cause I didn’t realise you’d actually have to ‘work’ to be unsettled somewhere. But, you do.

The moment you get settled is the moment you get comfortable. The moment you get comfortable is the moment you begin to think twice about your previous decisions. The moment you begin to do that is the moment you’ve opened the dangerous door and all it takes is a little push to send you sliding down the path of “not achieving your dreams”.

So moral of the story? If you know what you want, put things in place for you to get it. It’ll work out.

(Do you agree?)

That’s all from me folks.

Yours truly,

Global Gyal