As I once again pack up my belongings for a new life, I am forced to take inventory of what is important. I question and decide what is essential to take, what is worth holding onto but not taking with me, and those things that prove simply to be unnecessary. Whittling away at the purchases I have made over the years, the memories I have collected, and the comfortable lifestyle I have built takes its toll. I review the guidelines that the airlines have for baggage and come to the stark realization that my life will now be packed into no more than a fifty pound checked bag, a twenty-two pound carry-on, and a single personal item.
Reducing one's existence to seventy pounds worth of goods can feel overwhelming. However, it can also be one of the most freeing experiences one can have. Choosing where to put each item helps one to recognize what can be lived without. While I will miss my big screen tv, the memory foam bed, and my closet full of recreational gear, I know that carrying with me only what is essential opens my experience to possibilities that had no space in my everyday life before.
There are some things that carry no weight, but mean the whole world to us all.
From Dallas, Texas to Los Angeles, California...
...from Los Angeles, California to Seoul, South Korea...
...from Seoul, South Korea to Phnom Penh, Cambodia...
...I will take what is essential.
"Of all things, these three remain: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."
-1 Corinthians 13:13
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