Photo Credit Samantha Shearer - Final POD Loading & Security
The Pod Is Packed!
The giddiness of my smile, combined with the mess of hair and no make-up! Sharing that and more with the world is yet another step in my Tao of Transformation. My way to unapologetically live my life. Sharing here, with others, that it’s possible and can be done or as a cautionary tale to stay safe and secure wherever that may be.
This is what my life on the go is gonna look like.
Oh shit! What have I done?!?!
This is another reason to share. So I have ALL the interwebs, my friends, loved ones, and followers know exactly what I’ve done and that I’m not doing it alone.
Is it okay to blame mom? I only do it in juxtaposition to egging her on because I’m her coach in this. The one charged with making this fun and easy. Organized and well planned is my new form of perfection. I could call this whole thing: notes from a recovering perfectionist.
Charged and ready to go.
Tomorrow.
Oh shit! What have I done?!?!
We officially leave Vicksburg Mississippi tomorrow. I’m practicing life on the road at a bookstore with wifi to write this while mom is picking out a few books to read along the way.
Maybe in honor of Halloween this is a warning to beware of what you wish for, dream about, secretly hope will happen, plan for, only to have the dream come true. Leaving the life we have comfortably known for 20+ years to explore anew.
This is what I’ve learned so far or rather what I can express at the moment.
The 5 tips to packing a big life in a little box:
1 — Don’t block the storage unit door. It reminds me of my safety 1st motto — don’t block the exits. There is an immediate and visceral response to not being able to get the door open again on your storage container once you’ve shut it. This motto compliments; carry a big stick to help push shit back so you can triumphantly get storage doors open again if precious possessions have jostled about blocking the door. How dare they!
2 — Rope, bungies, straps — use all of them. Wrap all of it up and tie it back. Tie it down. Secure it tightly in place like you’re a professional dominatrix over your possessions. Telling them the whole time not to move an inch while you’re apart.
3 — Start clearing clutter now. If you don’t think you want it anymore, get rid of it now. This, I cannot stress enough and maybe that’s because I love all my things! It seems so much easier to keep them around me, adding to the collections until I can no longer be found under my mountain of precious possessions. Now I want only around me what I will keep forever or discard at the end of the day.
4 — Do it in stages. This is based on two of my life and coaching principles: make life fun and easy. This is impossible if you try to pack a big life in a little box in one day. It took me almost three years. Three years!! There is nothing quite like an afternoon with a platter of nosh, a bottle of bubbly, and a closet to clear of crap.
5 — Party along the way! Have people over that you will miss or maybe more important that will miss you. I never realized how many people loved and cherished having mom in their life until she said she was leaving. It was great to have brunches, and dinners, and get togethers along the way. This is also a great way to get rid of stuff. I can’t believe how many people helped us by giving them things they liked or wanted from our possessions. My favorite was some old Hellraiser comics that I gave to a friend amongst a couple boxes of albums that I’m still not totally sure he wanted but the comics he was overjoyed about.
It’s all packed up now and we are ready to go. If we’re not ready, too late now, we gotta be in Lafayette, Louisiana by 6pm tomorrow so we’re charged, revved, and raring to start this most fantastic journey. Excited to share with each other and you.
Stay posted for our final farewell shots of Mississippi, I knowI am. Then it’s all the wonders of the road that wait ahead. If you’re reading this from my website, thanks for visiting! If you’re reading from elsewhere and want 1st dibs on our latest and greatest antics, visit me at samanthashearer.com and sign-up for the newsletter. If we’re meeting on Medium, it’s great to be here and thanks for reading.
Cheers!!
Photo credit Samantha Shearer - OMG! I wrote that I wasn't wearing make-up and my hair is a mess but a zit too?!? Of course! Still smiling though!