As I sit down to write the first of several long-overdue
New Zealand updates, I glance back at previously written & unfinished blog
posts in my folder. One catches my eye; “Perceived
Necessities.” “Hmm, I wonder what I was
writing about there,” I ask myself, and open it. As soon as I begin to read, the applicability
of the topic makes me laugh. “When did I
write this,” I wonder, and see that it’s dated over a year and a half ago. I left it unfinished, & thus unpublished,
but now I think it will serve well as a little background to what I’ve gone
through more recently.
February 2011
I move often. In
past 2 years, I’ve moved 5 times (including this time).
Every time I move, I have to reconsider what to bring
& what to leave, and what will happen to the things I leave (storage, give
away, loan).
I keep a lot of stuff.
Question: if I’ve kept it for a year & not used it, will I really
use it in the future? Too often, can’t
bear the thought of permanently parting with it. Question: if I don’t need it now or in the
next year, why did I buy/acquire it in the first place? Was it necessary? Are there things I perceive to be necessary
NOW that a year from now I’ll wonder why I spent the money on them?
Unfortunately, I’m such a planner & back-up-plan
person that most of the time my answer is “I got it because I needed it then, I
don’t need it now b/c I’m in a shared/family household, and I will need it
again later when I’m on my own again, or married.” And then, of course, there are the boxes of
memorabilia items that would otherwise be trashed except that they remind me of
various good times.
…That’s as far as I got with that post, but I’m sure I
was about to launch into the difference between perceived and actual value of
belongings, and refer to journal entries I had written about watching movies
where people have one or two hours to grab their most important possessions
(& only as much as can fit in one bag) and flee the country to save their
lives, and contemplating how difficult that may or may not be for me if it ever
came down to that. More on this later.
November 2012
In case you’ve missed the memo, one month ago I flew to
New Zealand for a year-long working holiday.
I was moving out of my apartment in Flagstaff and anything I kept was
getting stored in Tucson. Once again I
was facing the “I’m moving, so what do I take/leave?” dilemma, but this time
the “things to take with me” list couldn’t be the familiar “what fits in the
car,” list, but rather the “what can I take on the airplane” list.
Additionally, as the writing above indicates,
I had long been contemplating how many of my possessions are really worth
putting into storage. The
alternative? Sell them & have the
cash on hand. Whereas previously this
idea didn’t take root very easily for me, now being faced with a year (or more?)
abroad & knowing I’d need all the cash I could get, I found new motivation for
this course of action.
Thankfully, I was able to sell a sizeable handful of
things in Flagstaff. Sadly, not
enough. So what I could fit in my car, I
took down to Tucson in hopes of selling it there the week before I flew out,
and what couldn’t fit in the car got left behind for roommates to use or sell. In Tucson, I tried to advertize things on
Craigslist, but it’s such a big city that my post got pushed to the fourth page
of results within 24 hours, and I didn’t stay on top of updating it. So my Mom is mercifully putting up with a bunch
of my things sitting around that I had really hoped to get rid of before I
left. Maybe I’ll still be able to find
buyers if I repost my ad.
Anyway, many people have asked me “how much are you
taking with you?” Before I packed, my
answer was “just what I can fit in a backpacking pack, a regular backpack,
& my computer bag.” With those
limits in place, I sorted through my clothing & gear and decided which
items were multi-purpose enough to be justified (a year’s worth of Sabbath
& nice-occasion clothes consists of one black skirt, one pair of black
slacks, a handful of shirts to mix & match, a wrap skirt & 2 dresses),
or which items were specific-purpose enough to be justified (things to hike in,
things to swim in, things to rock climb in, things to work in, appropriate
shoes for each case, etc). Once my
packing was complete, my answer was “too much.”
5.8 lbs too much, to be precise. Which I found out at the airport. I figured I’d be over the weight limits
before I left the house, but I couldn’t think of what else I’d leave behind, so
I decided I’d just bite the bullet & deal with it. When I checked in & the agent weighed my
backpacking bag (the regular pack & computer bag qualified as my carry-on
& personal item), it was 5.8 lbs over 50.
So the agent asked if I’d be able to take anything out & put it in
my carry-ons (no, they were stuffed to the gills) or if I could trade heavier
items in my checked bag for lighter items in my carry-ons. The difficult part about this idea was that I
had been as strategic as I could with putting all my heaviest things in my
carry-ons to start with, so there wasn’t much available to trade for lighter
weight.
I asked her how much extra I’d be charged.
She looked it up in the system. She called an agent from the other airline I’d
be transferring to also. Then she looked
up at me with the total; “$150.”
Whoa! I was
prepared to pay $30 or so, but not $150.
I asked her if she was serious.
She was.
I asked her if I had time to TRY and see what I could
do.
She said I did.
I stacked my bags against the wall near her desk, &
started pulling things out.
She weighed some stuff for me so I knew what my target
was.
I tried to figure out how that plus a little more could
trade with something in my carry-ons.
She dealt with the next customer in line.
I continued trying to identify the items of proper weight
& size trade-ability.
She noticed how carefully I had packed things.
I worried I’d end up late for the flight, but didn’t say
anything & kept trying to reorganize.
She had pity on me, came over, leaned down & said
quietly, “just go ahead & put it all back like you had it.”
I looked up with grateful hope in my eyes & asked, “really?”
“Yeah,” she replied, “just make it look like we did
something.”
“Thank you,” I said, almost in a whisper. And she handed me my boarding pass.
Upon arriving in New Zealand, I was then faced with
standing in line for quite a while to get through customs &
immigration. I didn’t have any problems
getting through, but there were just sooo many people, I was in line for a long
time. And had plenty of time to look
around at all the other travelers and evaluate how much they had with them. Some people made me feel proud of myself for
being able to get everything so much tidier than their bags looked. Others made me feel an unspoken camaraderie
as I could tell they were doing something very similar to me. And still others made me feel like a total
newbie at this, as they were clearly experienced adventure-travelers who had
gotten the hang of traveling light.
Upon getting picked up from the airport & taken to my
first temporary dwelling, my greetings of “it’s so good to see you!” also
included “girl, what did you pack!?!”
For my first two weeks, I felt like I had just the right amount of stuff
with me. I was never lacking for what I
needed, and anything I wasn’t using yet, I trusted I would somewhat soon-ish. Then I took a week-long trip, & took
everything with me. Yes. Everything.
And suddenly, it was more than “too much;” it was now ridiculous.
|
All the same stuff from the first photo, but now "exploded," as my car travel didn't need to be as strategic as airplane travel. |
The next trip I took was three days, and had
a very specific purpose & set of activities. I successfully packed only the regular
backpack & my computer bag. And I
still didn’t even use everything. My
sense of necessity was finally being pared down. And now, I’m on a two-week-long trip. This one involved a plane flight, and I was
limited to carry-ons only. Once again,
the backpack & the computer bag. And
neither is stuffed to the gills. Sure,
there are things I wonder if I will wish I had brought. But there’s also a little feeling of freedom
in my lightness. True necessities are
actually quite simple when you get right down to it.
Often, as I contemplate actual vs. perceived necessities,
I find myself recognizing how privileged I’ve been to grow up in the country
& socio-economic environment I have.
Media of the past 50 years has made the world a much more know-able
place, if you open your eyes to it, and I’ve seen how “humble” the majority of
the world’s population lives. I’ve also
been blessed enough to travel internationally, and experience what is normal
for many. I still recall my trip to
Africa, now seven years ago, and all the sights & sounds & smells of
that world. When I spent a weekend in
London on my return trip from Ghana, the contrast was nearly overwhelming to
think about.
So what about you?
How honest with yourself are you about your necessities in life? When you sit in your home & look around,
do you find yourself feeling like you really do need most of what you
have? Or are you able to distinguish
between perceived necessities & actual necessities. If someone told you right now that your life
was in danger & you had one hour to pack a bag & flee into hiding, how
easily would you be able to identify the things that really mattered?