For almost a month now, I have been traveling around with one small suitcase and a purse. I traveled around Mindanao (Davao City, Bukidnon, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, General Santos City, and Davao del Sur), took a bus from Davao to Tacloban, Leyte and spent a week there, and now I am in Cebu City. My next destinations are Bohol, Dumaguete, Bacolod, and Iloilo. Traveling has always been fun and inspiring, and my recent trip has taught me a lot of things and inspired me to write again after a long time.
In the next few weeks perhaps, I will write about the places I visited and the experiences that came along. But for now, a major lesson I learned the past month is about living on a suitcase. Back at home in Laguna, I have a closet full of clothes, several pairs of shoes, and bags. In Manila, I have two closets of clothes, and a half closet of bags and shoes. I have acquired those possessions in the last five years of working. Some of them were gifts, some I bought out of necessity, some are souvenirs from various countries I visited, and some I bought as a reward for myself after accomplishing a hard task.
I'd say I have a simple taste when it comes to fashion, but I love the variety I find in my wardrobe. I have several sets for formal meetings and dressier days, I have sets for traveling and rugged days, and I have a ton of my everyday jeans and shirts. I love that I have options to choose from everyday, but I did have my favorites that I will wear more often than the rest. I am not very keen on brands, nor do I collect the latest trends. I go after comfort and practicality in all my stuff.
For this trip, I packed along two dresses, one pair of jeans, one jogging pants, three shorts, two pairs of pajamas, six shirts/blouses, and ten pairs of underwear. I planned to wash my clothes whenever I can as I move along. I wanted to limit my stuff in one suitcase so I could travel fast and lite. I have a purse where I put my netbook computer, wallets, and important documents. Off the road I go, on a taxi, airplane, bus, tricycle, habal-habal, motorbike, van, and ferry, with my suitcase and purse in which my life depended on.
After a month of traveling, I really miss my entire wardrobe and the variety from which I choose my outfit everyday. The past weeks, I have been limited with the seven pairs of clothes I brought with me.Today after shower, I looked in my suitcase and was bored with the same set of clothes I look at everyday, struggling to find something to wear. I feel like I really have a serious problem now, I can't wear other clothes!
But upon reflecting, I realized some lessons in life. Firstly, of course there are thousands of people in the world who own even less amount of clothes than what I have in my suitcase. What is there to rant about missing my wardrobe when some people have bigger problems than that? Secondly, if I could live in a small suitcase and a purse for an entire month (and counting), why do I need several closets full of clothes? Such are the baggages we have in life...
Sometimes we tend to put too much in our emotional baggage that it becomes overloaded and we think we need to expand them to be able to put more. Most of the time we store our feelings of anger, hatred, unforgiveness, revenge, and bitterness towards other people. It is hard to let go because it just feels good to have a variety of emotions kept hidden somewhere. We also keep our attachments on material things, such as our possessions that we forget what is more valuable - relationships.
Yesterday we talked to a small farmers' organization and they shared to us their struggles about being trapped in the economic and political warfare between the rich and the powerful. Being poor, they are powerless and caught in the middle. Their only concern everyday is how to find food on the table, how to stay in a safe shelter, keep something to wear, and send their children to school. The rich and the powerful? Well, they fight over their political positions, huge lands they use for mining and other businesses, and they think what they have is not enough so they need to get more from other people, thus they fight.
From the farmers I learn a great metaphor. Identify the essentials of life and fit them in a suitcase, and that's what you bring with you anywhere. You cannot acquire more because it will be hard to carry around. For me, the essentials are my family, friends, some clothes to wear, a bed to sleep on, books to read, and food to eat. Those are the essentials I will put in my emotional suitcase. I cannot ad more I cannot desire for more wealth, power, influence, or enemies - they will keep me from moving on.
In life, we should learn how to live in a suitcase, where only the essentials fit.
