In traveling, life, etc; it seems that instead of thinking about what to buy, “optimize”, or add to your life, it seems more effective to determine what to shed, what to NOT bring (travel), what NOT to acquire and essentially we’re trying to build this skill:

What to add to shed from your life, not what to add to your life.

Why is it so hard to shed things?

Theories:

1. Fear: Fear that by shedding yourself of a certain possession or tool, you’ll become weakened or become disadvantaged somehow. The hoarding instinct is to retain all our external sources of “power” (material things which have wealth, tools, etc).
2. Culture: American (and most of western culture) is all about accumulating stuff, things, money, possessions, networks, people, etc. Too much inundation of this thinking from childhood affects us deeply as adults.
3. Human nature: It is human nature for us to want to become more powerful and to hold onto our tools and totems of power.