solitary boots

I love speaking on “Mindful Minimalism.” Click here for details.

Like many people in mid life, I’m re-examining the values, choices and goals I made years ago, when, in many ways, I was a different person.

I spent the first 40 years of my life over-packing for both travel and my life in general. I loaded myself down with educational degrees that I’ll be paying off for the rest of my life, and I loaded my luggage with stuff I never needed.

It’s much easier to over-pack for a trip than to pack just enough. Why? Over-packing requires less thought and discipline — just pile it in.

Road trips help me let go of conventions. Here are three:

  1. I have helmet hair, but heck, my looks are simply the outer shell of the real me.
  2. Bug bits, not spun silk, are my adornment–a reminder that I’m part of creation, not manufactured.
  3. I might smell like petrol exhaust and tarmac, but most fragrances have chemicals you shouldn’t be wearing anyway.

My good friend Neale Bayly, has traveled through 60+ countries, mostly on a motorcycle. Next week he is headed for Peru to raise money and awareness for abandoned children in a mountain orphanage, and filming a documentary about the experience.

Neal’s video might give you food for thought about what’s important. In it, he asks, “Why are people buying spinner rims, plastic t*ts and bigger houses…?”

Why, indeed?