Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot. And these thoughts are really just about me, my own experiences and the things I’ve been observing during my travels.
Feel free to think I’m crazy. I can understand that. And no, I’m not trying to tell anyone how to live their life. Nobody needs to adopt my lifestyle.
But sometimes I wonder whether we haven’t become a little too attached to things we believe we need.
There was a time when I travelled with much less luggage. Just a 35-litre backpack. At the beginning of my journey, I had more stuff, then gradually less and less. And now, somehow, I’ve accumulated quite a bit again.
The longer I travel, the more often I question the usefulness of certain things.
Let me give you a very simple example.
I have a travel washing line. I’ve been carrying it around for three years. Complete with pegs and everything. I think I’ve used it exactly once. In Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. And not even for hanging laundry, but for setting up my tarp. 😂
I usually wash my clothes by hand. And when I want to dry something, I simply hang it over whatever is available. If there’s nothing to hang it on, I find another solution. I’ve even seen people spreading their freshly washed clothes out on the ground to dry.
And you know what? It works.
I don’t need a washing machine to clean my few pieces of clothing.
And that brings me to another thought: How many clothes do we actually own? And how many of them do we really wear?
We often attach memories to clothes. I bought this there, that was expensive, maybe I’ll fit into it again one day. And then there are the clothes we actually wear all the time.
I have so few clothes now that washing everything by hand is perfectly manageable. I only need enough to change into something else. Not so much that I practically have to run a laundry service.
And suddenly, you can look at something like a washing machine from a completely different perspective.
Of course, it’s incredibly convenient. But it also needs electricity, money, space, maintenance and, sooner or later, perhaps a repair. And it needs to be worth having because we have enough laundry to justify it.
Maybe with fewer clothes, we wouldn’t need a washing machine as often. Just a thought.
Or take my tarp. I was so proud of it, and I still am. It’s brilliant, and I’m definitely keeping it. But sometimes I wonder whether we could find much simpler solutions for certain situations.
And then I see women here in Africa wearing large pieces of fabric wrapped around their bodies.
What an incredibly versatile thing!
It’s a skirt and a piece of clothing all in one. But it can also become a privacy screen when someone needs to change clothes or wants a little privacy outdoors. It can be used as a groundsheet for sitting or sleeping, as a blanket during long bus journeys, as protection from the sun and sometimes even from the rain.
You can carry a baby in it, transport things, turn it into a bag, use it as a head covering or even as a helping tool when carrying heavy objects.
One simple piece of fabric. So many possibilities.
And I find myself thinking: Isn’t that clever?
Instead of having ten different objects for ten different situations, you have one thing that can serve many purposes.
I’m not saying we should throw everything away, give up comfort or go back to the Stone Age. And of course, every object has its purpose and its place.
But I think we sometimes lose sight of what we actually need.
We believe that things make our lives easier. And sometimes they do. But at the same time, we have to work, earn money, clean, maintain, repair, replace and look after all those things.
We give away part of our time to own things that are supposed to save us time.
Somehow, that’s a bit of a cycle, isn’t it?
And perhaps we don’t even realise how deeply we are caught up in it.
We work for a certain standard of living. We buy things to make life more comfortable. We need more space for those things, more money to maintain them, and sometimes even more things just to be able to use the things we already own.
And what for?
I think most people don’t actually want all that much.
A little peace. Some quiet. Rest. Time for themselves. Time with people who make them feel good. The freedom to sit somewhere on a beach, watch the ocean and simply exist.
And surprisingly little is needed for that.
Perhaps my perspective on possessions is changing so much because I’m travelling. Because I see people living with different possibilities. Because I observe how versatile and creative simple things can be.
I don’t know where these thoughts will take me. Maybe my washing line will eventually become completely unnecessary. Maybe I’ll keep carrying it around for some other crazy idea. Who knows? 😉
But I want to question things more often.
Not: What else could I own?
But: What do I really need?
And perhaps, even more importantly:
Are the things still serving me – or have I become so busy serving the things I own?
