Preparing A Bag For Any Occasion
If you're like me, you recently had to pack a bag. You might have been getting ready for a weekend at the beach. Maybe you were preparing to see long distant relatives that you wish would stay distant. Perhaps you were simply collecting items so you could get out of town before those men in dark suits found you again.
Whichever your need, if you told anyone your plan, (more advisable in some cases than others, they likely asked the same question. "Have you started packing yet?" To which you may very well have replied: "No, Jacques. My contacts tell me I have at least four hours before those dark suited men find their way out of that decoy carnival we set up. There is still plenty of time to grab my books, false nose, and change of underwear."
I've never understood why folk insist that packing for a trip is a week long process. I often grab the clothing I need on the way out the door. My thinking has always been that, with the exception of a few environmental concerns, (sunscreen, parka, lock pick set) why should preparing for a day over there be different than preparing for a day over here? This simplified philosophy caused no small amount of strife when preparing for the family vacation but it has served me well ever since my fledgling days in Boy Scouts.
When preparing for a campout, every first year Scout takes the "be prepared" motto to mean "I should pack everything from my bedroom into my one weekend backpack." As the Scout grows, a more abstract and lightweight interpretation develops.
As I have unsuccessfully explained to many potential employers, I interpret the Scouting Motto to mean that you'll be diversely skilled. A prepared scout is able to be placed in any situation and flourish, or at least function at a high level. A scout should be ready to offer an intelligent response to whatever situation is presented. Scouting emphasizes the skills that make an individual formidable. On more than one occasion, I have had to rely on that scouting preparedness.
For reasons that have almost everything to do with the finances of holding a degree in philosophy and history, I once spent nine days in Vietnam with the contents of a backpack. Having nothing but myself in a place where I didn't speak the language or culture was only a short term issue because of the diverse preparation I had fostered in Scouting. I knew I could rely on myself and experiences before even thinking of the contents of my bag.
And that brings us back to the empty bag that stands between you and a clean getaway.
The reason that I don't worry about packing my bag more than an hour before I have to sneak out of town is because you don't have to pack skills. Diverse skills and knowledge sets for any occasion do not take up nearly as much space in your case as do shoes for any occasion.
At the end of the day, it's not about what you fill your bag with, but what you fill yourself with. Read books you wouldn't normally pay attention to. Talk to someone who grew up on the other side of town. Get lost and find your way back. Learn to rely on your ability to function, not your utility belt of toys. The more you rely on your skills and knowledge, those traits become sharper and the more diversely prepared you become. Trust yourself to make the items you pack work, not the other way around.
