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What’s Weighing You Down?

ByDr. Cate Brubaker #GlobalLife2014, Career, Travel

I’m writing a blog post every day in November as part of a writing challenge. Read why here.

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photo credit: Umpqua via photopin cc
photo credit: Umpqua via photopin cc

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve taken abroad? That’s the first question I posed in the November 3 on 3 mini blog challenge.

Recently, as I was packing for my workation in the UK, I started thinking about all of the dumb things I’ve hauled around the world.  Things like the…

+ 22 pairs of shoes I lugged to Germany (hey, I was a teenager).

+ Can of pineapple I carried all over Europe in my backpack. That I never ate.

+ Huge camera + case when I really only wanted to take simple snapshots.

I remember asking myself, do I really need so many pairs of shoes? A heavy camera? A CAN OF PINEAPPLE?

I thought I had good reasons for bringing these dumb items with me (variety! art! snacks!). The thing is, none of these items added anything to my journey except extra weight.

They were like a rock in my shoe – they didn’t cause enough pain to make me get rid of them, but they did drag me down – mentally and physically.

As we head into the last several weeks of 2013, I encourage you to ask yourself… What dumb things are you lugging around – mentally or physically – that could be weighing down your re-entry relaunch? What can you unpack and leave behind as you start to plan your 2014?

Hello, I'm Dr. Cate Brubaker! Are you a returnee who has been surprised to find your return "home" harder than going abroad? I created the Re-entry Roadmap workbook just for you. If you work with returnees, I'm here to help you with innovative resources and training that will make it easier to provide meaningful support for your returnees.