Comments on: Less stuff, more adventure

By: Allan

Allan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:15:21 +0000

Would love to read Sean’s blog, but can’t get past the popup insisting I subscribe to his newsletter.

By: Patti

Patti — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:15:40 +0000

How does 1 person + 3 cats downsize to one backpack?

By: Martha

Martha — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:40:34 +0000

Sean, your article brought back some great memories for me. My Army Lieutenant and I could fit everything we owned in the back of our Chevy Vega. Then we left the car for our move to Okinawa. Visited Bangkok just before we left Asia and started a family. Did you go to Tiger Balm Garden yet? That is a beautiful, bizzare place.

Now we are sans kids again. Downsized to a 2 bedroom condo, but your story makes me hunger to be even more footloose. Congrats on living your dream!

By: Julia1060

Julia1060 — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 07:35:56 +0000

Sean, your story (and the accompanying posts) are so helpful. My story: Just left a long-term, tenured position at a private college to pursue other passions full time. The job was very fulfilling, yet the guidance said the timing was right for a big change. And, while I could hear my dad’s worried voice (“quit a secure job!?”), I thought it only fair to practice what I’ve preached to students for years about honoring your dreams. As I explore the next steps and thin-thin-thin possessions for our upcoming move, it’s instructive and inspiring to remember that big risk can reap big rewards. Blessings on our various journeys, all.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:28:04 +0000

as in the above post, I carried a small purse and a backpack (the size that kids take to school – very small) on an 8 day trip to Arizona last Christmas. In those 8 days I attended my sisters wedding, interviewed for a job, celebrated my parents 50th wedding anniversary, and did some vacation stuff. I had everything i needed, and it was so easy to fly this way. my family couldn’t believe I had everything I needed in that backpack.

By: Cynthia Friedlob, The Thoughtful Consumer

Cynthia Friedlob, The Thoughtful Consumer — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 02:15:21 +0000

Okay, it’s not nearly as radical as Sean’s life-changing adventure, but I’ll share a much simpler, backpack-ultra-mini-adventure. I took a week-long trip some years ago to visit family in a small town in Colorado. A trip of that duration in the autumn (unpredictable weather) usually required a suitcase, but I was determined to take only a tote bag and a standard backpack (not a large one made for camping). A little judicious packing made it work and, to my surprise, the whole trip was made more enjoyable by my minimalist yet functional wardrobe and no hassles with checked luggage. If you’re not ready to chuck it all and head for Thailand, you might want to try just taking a vacation with far less stuff than you usually haul along with you. It’s a liberating experience and makes you reconsider what you truly “need.”

By: Gloria

Gloria — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:23:16 +0000

I hope you are thoroughly enjoying yourself Sean. My husband & I did this pre-kids and then 2 years ago with a 2nd & 5th grader. We home schooled and climbed around southeast Asia. When we returned, we realized that as a family of 4, we traveled lightly, lived in tight quarters, and loved it! We downsized & bought a smaller house. We are thinking of doing it again before the older child hits high school. It takes tight budgeting skills to do this type of trip but it’s completely worth it! I hope you realize that even as you get older, have more responsibilities, you can still do this, and bring your kids to share in the adventure!

By: Lose That Girl

Lose That Girl — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:00:58 +0000

Wow, so hardcore. I’ll just admire from the midst of my stuff. I think it’s great you can live so simply.

By: Joel | Blog Of Impossible Things

Joel | Blog Of Impossible Things — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:33:27 +0000

Sean, have you gotten rid of all your stuff (i.e. colin wright style) or just minimized everything for your trip to asia and have it somewhere back in Portland?

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:16:00 +0000

Sean,

Thanks for the story! I recently made a similar decision.

Nearly 2 years ago, at age 37, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a house under contract at the time. I cancelled the contract, put nearly all my belongings in storage, and moved in with a friend while I went through chemo and radiation.

Shortly after completing treatment, I decided I wanted to fulfill a life-long dream of traveling. After several months of planning, I quit my non-profit job in March (I had worked throughout cancer treatment). In April I headed to Europe for 3 months. I’m no entrepreneur, and pretty soon I’ll be headed back home to look for a new job in a tough job market, but I have no regrets. It has been wonderful.

I packed very lightly for this trip, and in the months I’ve been here I’ve decided that not only do I not need most of what has been in storage for the past 2 years, I don’t want it. It was a very liberating realization. Downsizing will be on the top of my to-do list when I get home.

By: ragabond

ragabond — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:56:02 +0000

I did the get rid of everything except what can fit in a backpack but I just walked to the new place I wanted to live. I’m glad I did. It’s amazing how society holds us hostage to so many conceptions of life and it’s very hard to break free.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:40:02 +0000

@Sean – It’s refreshing to hear that you are living a wonderful life without almost any possessions at all. I know that I could never give up my home (I am not a big traveler and really like having “roots”) but the thought of being able to live as freely as you do is inspiring!

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:06:18 +0000

@Jeffrey Good luck leaving your job! I was trying to keep the article down to around 500 words, so I didn’t go into a lot of the specifics. But if you check out my blog, there is a lot of detail about how I’ve made everything happen!

@Jes Thanks! Glad to see that you were able to do something similar, even if it did cost you some money. One of my favorite quotes is “what would you rather have bankruptcy of the wallet or bankruptcy of the soul”. I think experiences are way more important than stuff, or at least thats been the case for me.

@chacha Everyone has a different way of life, whats most important is that you are doing what makes you happy. Hopefully my adventure at least provided some kind of entertainment

@GirlOverboard There is a time and a place for everything. If this kind of lifestyle is something you really want to pursue, eventually there will be an opportunity that will allow it to happen.

I have huge amounts of respect for anyone that can hike even a portion of the PCT. My girlfriend’s brother did the whole thing…can’t imagine.

Hope that the post provided some kind encouragement, and I appreciate the kind words!

@Rae Hey an RV is better than a huge house full of stuff. I’ve always thought it would be awesome to road trip around the US in an RV…maybe that will be the next adventure…

By: Rae

Rae — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:39:41 +0000

I’m part of that ‘club’, too, although I have way more stuff than would fit in a backpack! I downsized into an RV and am now living the life of my dreams traveling around. Kudos to you, Sean, for getting out of the rat race.

By: GirlOverboard

GirlOverboard — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:31:37 +0000

This is so amazing. Over the last year, my husband and I have been getting more and more into hiking and generally spending time outdoors. Last year on a hike across the Pacific Crest Trail through the Goat Rocks wilderness, we ran across a couple hiking the ENTIRE duration of the trail – from Mexico to Canada. We were absolutely blown away and we still talk about how amazing it would be to be able to do that. We’ve always wondered how it is that people can travel for months at a time like that and sometimes I dream about selling off everything we can’t carry in our packs and taking off.

Unfortunately, our life path has taken us in a direction that makes it pretty much impossible to accomplish such a thing. I won’t go into all of the details, but even if we could take off like that, we’re working on helping his parents’ unclutter their lives and get back on their feet. We couldn’t abandon them now.

If we can keep up with uncluttering our bodies of bad food and stay on the path to eating better, we’ll hopefully still be fit for adventure when our future children are grown up and we’ve built a hefty retirement. Until then, I shall be living vicariously through people like you, sir!