Leaving With Less, Living With More

As we just went through our garage sale, selling items that we would have never dreamed of selling, and as we are putting the final touches of packing a few valuables we absolutely want to keep, we are reflecting.

We all carry a bag. Not the kind you sling over your shoulder on a weekend trip or zip up at the airport. I’m talking about the real one; the invisible one filled with everything we’ve lived, everything we’ve learned, and everything we’ve held onto, often without even knowing it.

And like real luggage before a big move, it gets heavy.

When my spouse and I decided to sell nearly everything we owned and start a new chapter in Costa Rica, it wasn’t just a physical decision. It quickly became obvious that it was very much an emotional one. A spiritual one. A soul-level sorting.

We didn’t just go through belongings. We went through memories.

Some things were easy to let go of. A chair, a dresser, winter clothes we won’t need in the tropics. But others stopped us in our tracks. A note from a parent. A gift from a friend long passed. A familiar coffee mug that had quietly witnessed our mornings for years.

We all pack differently.

Some of us are good at traveling light. Others are quiet collectors of sentiment, of “what if,” of “maybe one day.” But at some point, life asks a question we can’t ignore:

What are you still carrying, and why?

So we sat, figuratively and literally, on the floor and began sorting.

Not just boxes, but old emotions. Regret. Nostalgia. Pride. Pain. We sifted through it all.

We faced our past. Not with shame, but with respect.

We kept the lessons. We left behind the guilt.

We carried forward the love (always the love) and let it be what made the load lighter.

Love for the people we’ve met, the life we’ve built, the mistakes that taught us, the friends and family we’ve had to say goodbye to. Love for each other. And love for what’s still possible.

This isn’t about running away, as a few people hinted to. It’s about stepping forward.

We’re not discarding our life. We’re choosing what fits in the bag now.

And this time, we’re making space for joy… finally.

Ask yourself… if you had to pack your life belongings into 6 bins of no more than 60 lbs each and a couple of suitcases (clothes included), what would you keep and what “baggage” would you be “unloading”?