Travel Light: Go Farther and Go Further

Though “farther” and “further” often get used interchangeably, there is a subtle difference. “Farther” refers to physical distances, as in, “I could throw the baseball farther than my brother could.” Whereas, “further” refers to a metaphorical distance, as in, “Success felt further away than ever before.” When it comes to traveling, travel light, both literally and metaphorically. It will help you to travel farther and go further in life.

How to Pack Light to Go Farther

When you’re literally packing to go on a long journey, it may seem necessary to pack a huge bag full of everything you could ever possibly need. You’ll probably feel the urge to overpack in the hopes that you’ll be able to establish the comfort of home wherever you go.

But, all of that preparing and packing only serves to defeat the purpose of traveling. When you pack light, you’re not only able to go farther without the weight of your bags making you sluggish, but you’re also able to go farther in the sense that you’re able to leave your home behind and truly experience the beautiful, transformative discomfort of travel.

How to Travel Light to Go Further

If life is a journey, then ultimately, our experiences are the baggage we bring with us wherever we go. Some people feel downtrodden, weighed down by the heft of the life they’ve led. Others have backaches from toting around particular moments in their lives; they carry the stress of their grudges on their shoulders.

The weight of the world can be lifted from those aching shoulders, thankfully. When you unpack your experiences, get rid of the negative experiences that only add weight and don’t offer any informative value, and you repack that baggage to be considerably lighter, you’ll find that you can go further than ever before. In fact, you may just soar.

How to Unpack at the End of the Journey

Don’t toss out every negative experience you’ve ever had. Many of those horrible things that have happened to you have informed who you are today. Instead of holding onto them as terrible reminders of the past, take a hold of what you learned from those experiences. Fold them up and incorporate those lessons into your pack.

At the end of your journey, unpack your metaphorical—and your literal—bags, and you’ll more than likely find that you’ve picked up a new thing or two along the way, and that alone will be worth the trip.