Dash of Courage: The Weight of the Backpack

"The things you own end up owning you."-Fight Club

25 years ago this Sunday, I boarded a plane to Hong Kong.
I had a backpack and a dream. That's it.

No real plan, clear path, or clue what I was doing.

The backpack was mostly empty.
And somehow, that made the world feel enormous.

Every conversation felt possible.
Every street felt alive.
Every opportunity felt one decision away.

I had to find a job, figure it out, and learn to survive.
And I loved it because an empty backpack is light.
You move faster, risk more, and say Yes more easily.

25 years later, I think about that backpack all the time.

Not the actual one, the invisible one.
The one that slowly fills up over time.

Responsibilities and expectations.
Titles, opinions, and pressure.
The fear of looking foolish, starting over, or saying you just don't know.

And before long, the thing that gave us freedom starts weighing us down.

There's a scene in the movie "Up in the Air" where George Clooney asks people to imagine carrying a backpack filled with everything in their lives.

Their house.
Their stuff.
Their obligations.
The things they bought to keep up appearances.
All the ridiculous things they jam in their over time.
Eventually the backpack becomes so heavy they can barely move.

The slow accumulation of things that make us...well
Less curious.
Less spontaneous.
Less courageous.

Some people spend their whole lives adding to the backpack.
Very few stop to ask: "What needs to come out?"

Because moving is living.
Sometimes courage isn't adding something new.
It's letting go of something heavy.

An outdated identity
A safe routine
A version of success that no longer fits.

Dash of Courage
This upcoming week, lighten the load.

Take out one thing that drains you.
Maybe something you've outgrown.
Or an expectation of who you need to be, that no longer serves you.

Because the goal was never to carry the most.
It was always to stay light enough to keep moving forward.

Courage over Comfort,
Garrett