Tag: minimalist

As a minimalist, my go bag is central to effectively manage the use of my every day belongings. Lots of things that go in the bag are kits of other things, like wash kit and first aid kit, which means they can be easily added or removed. This means the contents are constantly changing, but at any point in time the contents of my go bag represent my recent past, known near future, some uncertain but predictable futures, and a small amount of unknown futures, with some degree of considered accuracy.

Its interesting to me to think about my go bag in this way. It almost represents my approach to thinking, and it seems positive that my mental and physical worlds have this alignment. To be continually clearing away the remnants of the past to avoid carrying unnecessary weight around, regularly reviewing what I need in order to be prepared for known near futures, and accepting uncertainty about the future rather than convincing myself that I can predict it, are all good practices for maintaining effective thinking and an effective go bag.

Recent past

There will usually be some things in my bag that are there because I’ve used them recently and haven’t reviewed the contents yet to remove them (or keep them if I’ll be using them again soon). I might have my wash kit in my bag because I had a shower earlier, so even though it isn’t useful right now or in the near future it’s still in the bag just because I haven’t yet reached a review point.

The thinking parallel to is might be ideas I’m considering but haven’t yet reached any kind of conclusion for.

Known near future

I know, for example, when I review my bag contents each morning I’ll more than likely want to drink water that day, so I include my water bottle because it meets a need I know is going to arise in the near future. If I’ve planned the things I’m going to be working on that day then I’d bring to mind what I know about that subject and think about what I might want to achieve with it.

Uncertain but predictable futures

As its autumn, rain is a predictable event. I can be fairly sure that at some point in the near future it’s going to rain but when and whether it will affect me are uncertain. So I’ve added an umbrella to the things that can be in my go bag. On days when I know it isn’t going to rain or I’m not going to be spending much time outdoors I’ll remove it, but on days when I’m less certain I’ll include it as carrying the extra weight is preferable to getting wet.

Holding on to some thoughts and ideas that may be useful for uncertain but predictable futures makes it easier to draw connections and progress those ideas if something related occurs.

Unknown futures

I keep a few items in my go bag which I know would be useful in a variety of unknown situations, things like a roll of sellotape, sewing kit and wet wipes. These things are not connected to particular situations but could help deal with lots of different situations in an unknown future.

I also carry some longstanding ideas that although I don’t know if or when some related thinking or discussion might occur where I need them, I know I want to keep those ideas close just in case.Turn Into@ColorMore