This resonated with me. I've been thinking a bit about the Buddhist thoughts on desire being a cause of suffering. To be able to lower the strength and necessity of one's desire can really improve your daily mood and minimize a negative reaction to a perceived problem.
For example, traveling post-Covid has come with increased logistical challenges in the past year+, and it's easy to get frustrated when things don't go my way, or travel plans break in a cascade due to one hiccup that causes a delay. Just reducing my desire for an ideal outcome has really made me feel more at peace with the bumps and delays on the road.
Strong desires are sure to lead to disappointment, and often that mood stops one from enjoying the actual, amazing world. Successful, fulfilling travel (and life in general!) is all about maintaining flexibility, and we have to fight our natural tendency to over optimize. Not letting myself get attached to my optimized plans has really helped me eliminate a lot of stress and frustration.
And I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on physical items as well. I often sell things I own on craigslist or eBay to get it out of my inventory, as well as just tossing stuff regularly that I don't use.
I'm curious if you have any unique thoughts on packing for a trip? My mother was wondering why she needed an entire large suitcase for a 3 day trip, while we get by for months with just a backpack. 😂
Interestingly, the kindle I got a few years ago was probably one of my best buys, but I can never really get over the feeling that not having a shelf full of the books I read is a pity. Have you read any explanation on that matter?
I've been sharing the same approach since I was 18 and I have the same general feeling questioning myself quite a bit on the subject of possessions and the mental load related to them. After several years of iterations I arrived at the following model to manage my possessions:
I use a google sheet file "Minimalism" allowing me to have an accounting and manage all my possessions by limiting the number of possibilities with the following columns: Category, Name, color, brands, quantity which gives for example (Tailored, Suit, Blue, De Fursac / Hugo Boss, 2)
I iterated on this and improved it with a system limiting the number and type of brands I can use for example (Only Nike for sportswear - Only Prada for leather goods ..) to reduce as much as possible the decision process and purchase related and get out completely of the impulses related to advertising.
It's an approach that looks quite radical in the end but that I was able to build over time and reduce enormously the load related to possessions. :D Curious to know if you use something similar to benchmark your possessions or another kind of tool ?
"it's about desiring less"
This resonated with me. I've been thinking a bit about the Buddhist thoughts on desire being a cause of suffering. To be able to lower the strength and necessity of one's desire can really improve your daily mood and minimize a negative reaction to a perceived problem.
For example, traveling post-Covid has come with increased logistical challenges in the past year+, and it's easy to get frustrated when things don't go my way, or travel plans break in a cascade due to one hiccup that causes a delay. Just reducing my desire for an ideal outcome has really made me feel more at peace with the bumps and delays on the road.
Strong desires are sure to lead to disappointment, and often that mood stops one from enjoying the actual, amazing world. Successful, fulfilling travel (and life in general!) is all about maintaining flexibility, and we have to fight our natural tendency to over optimize. Not letting myself get attached to my optimized plans has really helped me eliminate a lot of stress and frustration.
And I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on physical items as well. I often sell things I own on craigslist or eBay to get it out of my inventory, as well as just tossing stuff regularly that I don't use.
I'm curious if you have any unique thoughts on packing for a trip? My mother was wondering why she needed an entire large suitcase for a 3 day trip, while we get by for months with just a backpack. 😂
Interestingly, the kindle I got a few years ago was probably one of my best buys, but I can never really get over the feeling that not having a shelf full of the books I read is a pity. Have you read any explanation on that matter?
I've been sharing the same approach since I was 18 and I have the same general feeling questioning myself quite a bit on the subject of possessions and the mental load related to them. After several years of iterations I arrived at the following model to manage my possessions:
I use a google sheet file "Minimalism" allowing me to have an accounting and manage all my possessions by limiting the number of possibilities with the following columns: Category, Name, color, brands, quantity which gives for example (Tailored, Suit, Blue, De Fursac / Hugo Boss, 2)
I iterated on this and improved it with a system limiting the number and type of brands I can use for example (Only Nike for sportswear - Only Prada for leather goods ..) to reduce as much as possible the decision process and purchase related and get out completely of the impulses related to advertising.
It's an approach that looks quite radical in the end but that I was able to build over time and reduce enormously the load related to possessions. :D Curious to know if you use something similar to benchmark your possessions or another kind of tool ?