Packing Light: Thoughts on Living Life with Less Baggage

Carrying baggage you don't need?

When I was in college, I figured my life would come together around graduation. I€d meet a guy, have a beautiful wedding, and we'd buy a nice little house€"not necessarily with a picket fence, but with whatever kind of fence we wanted. Whatever we decided, I would be happy.

When I got out of college and my life didn€t look like that, I floundered, trying to get the life I had always dreamed of through career, travel, and relationships. But none of them satisfied me as I hoped. Like many twentysomethings, I tried to discover the life of my dreams, but instead I just kept accumulating baggage€"school loans, electronics I couldn€t afford, hurt from broken relationships, and unmet expectations for what life was €œsupposed to be€ like.

Just when I had given up all hope of finding the €œlife I€d always dreamed about,€ I decided to take a trip to all fifty states . . . because when you go on a trip, you can€t take your baggage. What I found was that €œpacking light€ wasn€t as easy as I thought it would be.

This is the story of my trip and learning to live life with less baggage.