Along my journey to end my weight loss struggle, I often found myself overburdened with keeping my options open for “just in case”. Do you find that? Are you stressed about “what if” questions – like “what if I’m hungry and there is nothing healthy to eat?” or perhaps it is in other areas of your life like “what if I want to do something different than the planned activity on my trip?” Here are 2 examples of what was in my bag when I was struggling with this.
An overnight trip at a catered event with my daughter – an evening meal, followed by brunch the next day, no shortage of food, but in addition to all our clothes, makeup and accessories, I arrived with a full bag of food: dried fruit, protein bars, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, herbal tea bags – for our 16 hour stay. On arrival, we were presented with a huge gift basket full of delicious things to eat in our hotel room, so needless to say, I repacked all this food to take it home the next day!
I felt foolish.
I felt overloaded.
I do this with personal activities too – my carry-on bag is bigger than my children’s! Every trip, I take: knitting, needlepoint, laptop, iPod, stack of books, stack of magazines.
I tell myself I don’t have to do them; I just like to know they’re there if I want to. Just in case.
It’s a lie I’m telling myself.
All that food.
All that stuff.
It makes me feel weighed down.
Does this sound like you? What’s in your bag? How do you feel about the contents of your bag when you unpack it?
Sometimes it takes a while to find the answer. I struggled a lot with that question, as, having mastered the art of backpacking across two continents in my twenties, I take great pleasure in packing the minimum clothes needed. So why did I burden myself with lots of food every time I travel?
I discussed this with my coach, and she asked me a question that changed my life. “Which do you prefer – traveling light or having choices?” By working with my coach, I was able to understand that I could find the freedom I needed to make the right choices – not by relying on having something with me to deal with every possible scenario, but by being able to make the right choice based on the options around me at the time, and leaving lots of room in my bag for thoughts of abundance, not restrictions.
I’m now enrolled in a self-coaching class, and working on abundance thoughts. The overloading and abundance seems connected. Often with coaching, you work on one thought, and other behaviours are released without any effort at all. It’s the magic of coaching.
So, this morning, miraculously, I find myself boarding a plane to New Orleans (6 hours travel time) with just my purse. What’s in it? 1 novel, 1 Oprah mag, 1 protein bar, 2 clementines, wallet, blackberry. That’s it.
No emotional baggage.
I love it.
Answer: travelling light. It’s freedom.
Are you struggling to discover freedom? I can help you – it’s not as hard as it seems. Contact me to book a session, and let me help you change your life: Email me.
