an epic life

Pack The Right Stuff

May 29th, 2015

Hi there!

I just returned from giving a keynote presentation at the Wyoming Worksite Wellness Conference.

The content for my presentation comes from what I have learned in my mere 46.916 years of various experiences, and in my work, which includes coaching about 100 women and men in some capacity during the last 4-5 years. I have some 30 “life lessons,” but, due to time and our limited attention spans, I usually only feature the top 8-10 in a presentation. One that never makes the final cut is Pack The Right Stuff. And yet I think it’s one of the most important.

When I lead or participate in a wilderness expedition, I always struggle with keeping my load light. I’m an over-packer and this is too bad, since I’m sold on the benefits of packing light, and because I’m always challenging my clients to lighten their loads.

As we organize our loads for an expedition, we go through this exercise where we consider each item and ask, “Will this unnecessarily weigh me down, or will it add to my experience?” This is an effort to inspire people to dare to “strip down” and get to the bare minimum of what they’ll need. Doing so significantly affects the amount of effort it will take to hike uphill and off-trail, at altitude, on rugged trails, with a load on your back.

But the exercise is also worthwhile because it causes us to be intentional about what we decide to carry. And, anything that causes us to be more intentional is a good thing.

My big backpack, with me and a mountain in the background. 🙂

For example, I’ll carry an extra five pounds in chocolate and coffee, but will lose an extra pair of socks or shorts or pants. That’s a reasonable exchange as far as I’m concerned. One of clients may opt to have more fresh clothes and fewer luxurious food items. Recently one of my Epic Women asked about packing a solar shower. 🙂 My husband, bless his heart, will often pack not one knife, but 3. Three knives, you ask?! I guess one to defend against a wild animal, one to clean a trout with and one to slice the cheese?

But this blog is not about removing a knife, or an extra pair of shorts from your load, but rather to consider what you carry every day in your life, and how intentional you are about what you’re carrying. Consider for a moment, what might you shed that is unnecessarily weighing you down or holding you back? What might you add that could enrich your experience?

For example, one item I’m working to shed from my everyday life is self criticism. In its place, I’m adding self compassion. Two months ago, I removed judgment, and added in its place The Beginner’s Mind. And so on… Because changes are hard, and adjusting our load requires attention and consideration, I recommend evaluating one item at a time, and giving each one some time to fit into your load. Maybe consider “sizing up” and adjusting your load on a monthly basis. Think depth not breadth. (BTW, check out this bit on “making smaller circles” by chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin, at his The Art of Learning Project. It is fascinating!)

This work of consciously choosing what we’ll carry and what we’ll leave behind is not easy, and yet it’s vital if we are to live our best, most epic life.

Thanks for reading, and I’d love it if you’d share your thoughts on what you’d like to shed from your life, and what you’d like to add.

• Categories: Adventure, Fitness, Life and Leadership, Travel
• Tags: backpacking, conscious, expedition planning, intentions, lightening your load
• Comments: 1 Comment