Saturday, September 23, 2006

Traveling light, embracing change

He who would travel happily must travel light.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I'm just about done packing my small apartment, and though I'm leaving much of my furniture behind (my new one's furnished) it still means that when I sort through my stuff, I still have to examine every possession and assess its aesthetic quality, gauge its emotional attachment, judge its purpose in my life, and then dispense with it. I'm Hamlet, packing the castle, "To take or not to take. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous backache, Or to take arms against a sea boxes, And by opposing move them?"

Nothing gets your emotional juices up like moving, but forcing myself to do it means that I grow. I like to challenge myself to do new things. I've done it all my life, and it never gets easier, as a matter of fact it gets harder. But what a necessary thing. I like traveling off the normally prescribed path and vaulting myself into the world to see what's there. When I do I learn new things, contribute in new ways. Scary, but Measure for Measure, "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

After a couple of weeks of chaos and living out of boxes, you'll be settled in to enjoy your next adventure. The next town you live in will enjoy your sense of humor, and we'll miss it.

Elizabeth Prata said...

Thank you! Things are funny, it makes life a lot easier if we can laugh. It does me, anyway!