Travel Lite - Extended Version
Travel Lite… Are you traveling lite? Well if you travel within the country or internationally it will cost you some cash if you travel heavy. Most airlines will charge you to check more than one bag and in some cases they will charge you for checking one bag. So you really have to think about what you are packing in your bags. If you over pack and travel heavy you will charged. That travel example also pertains to life. If you are traveling heavy, it will cost you. You will pay with things like increased mental stress, being unhealthy or just overall discomfort. But we all want to be happy. We all deep down want to smile and happy. But how can you do that if you are traveling lite. How can you do that if you have so much mental stress that getting up is hard?
I referenced doing the death march through White Sands Missile Range. In this situation you are intentionally traveling heavy, right? You are packing your ruck sack with non-perishable food that you donate at the finish line. But you are intentionally carrying 35 to 40 pounds on your back for 26.2 miles. Sounds rough, right? Well that is because it is. And the kicker is you pay to sign up for this death march. But in life you technically pay to travel heavy too. You pay with the mental stress or discomfort for life. Either way you are paying to travel heavy.
Traveling lite doesn’t just save you money or mental stress, but it makes you more nimble. It makes you happier. You are more free to smile, laugh and enjoy life. You aren’t carrying so much on your shoulders anymore. You can be positive in life. You have hope. Traveling lite has many facets in life. But one is, is your life so cluttered that you are trapped? You have 10,000 emails in your email box? Is your house and car messy? Is your car dirty and not taken care of? Is your to-do list longer than Santa Clause’s naughty or nice list? Does walking for an extended period of time wear you out? If you answered yes to any of these, then you might be traveling heavy. You might be adding unneeded stress to your life. You might be paying to travel heavy.
How can you fix these issues? Well you need to attack life and these issues head on. Do whatever it takes to get that 10,000 email box to zero. What if a life changing deal or important business was buried in there? You would never even find it. You wouldn’t even know it was there…Spend the weekend declutter the house and car. Just like throw stuff out. Clear out your living space and your driving space. Get light. Is this essential to life? If no then toss it. You are probably thinking well Chris that is easy for you to say… right. You aren’t throwing anything away. You don’t know what I need or don’t need. But I will counter with this. I have a tad of that hoarder mentality in me too. How I counteract that is keep the essentials and the rest must go. No if’s or ands or buts. I donate all the time to Goodwill. I hear so many people saying that I will put it on eBay or Craigslist. I just tell them, get that stuff out of here. Goto to Goodwill drop it off and move on to more productive tasks. Take the tax deduction and move on with life, right? Let’s get back to things that move us forward, instead of trying to sell x for $10 bucks. You will spend more time meeting up with craigslist people and haggling for a price than the item or object is worth. Drop it off at Goodwill and move on. It really is that simple. If it is a health thing, then the simplest way is to get to the gym and hustle one day at a time, until you are who you want to be. Look in the mirror. Is this the person I want to be? If yes go to the gym to maintain that person. If no go to the gym to become that person. You see what I did there? Either outcome of that flow chart still leads you to hustling at the gym or something athletic that keeps you healthy. What about your todo list? Attack that todo list so hard that even Santa Claus was like how did you finish that so fast. If you can’t get that todo list shorter, then how you can add important things to it? You can’t. You will always be adding and not subtracting. You will never be attacking the things that move you forward…what a shame. What a waste of your life and time.
Like always, you have to be one to make these difficult choices. In the end you are the person that you look at in the mirror. You are the one who has to live with or without regret on how you spent your life…make the right choices. Travel through life lite….don’t pay the fees to travel heavy. That is the sucker route.