• Start Here
    • Mental Health
    • The World
    • Relationships
    • The Mind
    • Body & Brain
    • Money
  • Premium Membership
  • Experiences & Courses
    • The IPS ACADEMY
      • Instructors & Mentors
    • IPS T-Shirts
    • The IPS Journey’s
  • Resources
    • Book Library
    • Quotes
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Account
  • Cart

The IPS Project

Educational Platform on Life

  • Start Here
    • Mental Health
    • The World
    • Relationships
    • The Mind
    • Body & Brain
    • Money
  • Premium Membership
  • Experiences & Courses
    • The IPS ACADEMY
      • Instructors & Mentors
    • IPS T-Shirts
    • The IPS Journey’s
  • Resources
    • Book Library
    • Quotes
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Account
  • Cart

How Backpacking Will Show You the Essentials of Life

By: Jellis Vaes Read When: traveling

Backpacking Will Show You the Essentials of Life

How Backpacking Will Show You the Essentials of Life

When you pack for a long term backpacking journey one of the first things you realize is that you can’t take that much with you. 

You are limited for space. 

At first this might feel quiet daunting, even scary for many people. For the first time ever you are forced to make decisions on what you are going to take with you and what you aren’t, knowing full well that you will be leaving them behind for months or even years. 

It makes you stop for a minute (or even a few days!) and consider what is truly needed and what is not – what goes in the backpack and what must be left at home. 

This “practice” is one of the first confrontations you’ll come to face that will in some ways teach you what is essential in life and what is not. 

Many travelers setting out for the first time have a hard time with this and over pack, taking things with them that they very soon realize that in all honestly they could – and should – have left at home. 

That extra pair of shoes; their pillow; several sets of clothes; a whole bunch of healthcare products; a suit (yep, I met a guy who traveled with a full suit in his backpack).

While you’re out there on this journey of yours, after a while you’ll come to realize something you’ve never understood before. That actually, you don’t need half as much stuff as you thought you did to live a happy life.

In fact, you come to realize you actually need very little. 

Just a few clothes, a toothbrush, a piece of soap, shampoo, a few personal items (laptop, camera, notebook, etc.) and that’s it. The result of having to simplify your life because of your backpack will make you feel more at peace inside because you have less to worry about and less to take care of. 

This in turn gives you more time than you have ever had before, time that was spent with the materialistic things you had to leave behind – your car, your house, bike, TV, those extra shoes, that suit (I still can’t believe he had it with him)… 

It will also teach you – by forcing you to make these sacrifices – that it isn’t so much the actual materialistic things that lead to a happy life, but rather it is the experience of living that is the true essential of life.

I Am This Moment Banner

Didn’t see that one coming did you? By forcing yourself out of the space of the very materialistic world we live in (which it has to be said, a vast majority of us are unhappy in), you’ll come to learn how crazy and obsessed we have become and how much we have forgotten what life and living is truly all about.

Many amongst us will live a lifetime never having to ask the question “What do I really need?” They will never be forced to make the decision to leave almost everything behind and only take the essentials. 

Our lives of luxury don’t require us to do so. However, a long term backpacking journey does. Of course no one really has that thought – what they are about to learn – when they are packing for their journey. 

It’s just something that they come to acknowledge and understand on their travels, and afterwards when they are back. There are many more layers to traveling than just as a way to seek adventure and excitement.

It’s also a way to get educated on life in certain aspects that can’t be taught any other way. And all that it requires is a backpack and a journey to look forward too.

Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

Your voice matters!

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Jellis Vaes
Founder/CEO at The IPS Project
Therapist, adventurer, and founder/CEO of The IPS Project, the educational platform on life.
Latest posts by Jellis Vaes (see all)
  • Gary Chapman – Love is a choice you make everyday - June 26, 2022
  • Bonus Episode – Kristina Paltén: The Questions That Were Not Asked - June 23, 2022
  • Paulo Coelho – Don’t Give in To Your Fears - May 7, 2022

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

About Jellis Vaes

Therapist, adventurer, and founder/CEO of The IPS Project, the educational platform on life.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The IPS Podcast | Educational Platform on Life
The IPS Podcast | Educational Platform on Life

A warm welcome to The IPS Podcast, the podcast of The IPS Project, the educational platform on life.

In this podcast hosted by Jellis Vaes, the founder of The IPS Project, you can expand your knowledge about life topics that we learn little to nothing about growing up—topics such as mental health, relationships, the workings of the mind, etc.

We will learn about them from experts and people from all walks of life.

Listen OnApple PodcastsListen OnGoogle PodcastsListen OnSpotify
Bonus Episode – Kristina Paltén: The Questions That Were Not Asked (Three Things She Can’t Live Without, Keeping Big Goals Fun, and Much More)
byThe IPS Project | Jellis Vaes
Bonus Episode – Kristina Paltén: The Questions That Were Not Asked (Three Things She Can’t Live Without, Keeping Big Goals Fun, and Much More)
Bonus Episode – Kristina Paltén: The Questions That Were Not Asked (Three Things She Can’t Live Without, Keeping Big Goals Fun, and Much More)
June 23, 2022
The IPS Project | Jellis Vaes
Search Results placeholder

The IPS Academy


Change Your Life


Browse Online Courses

BECOME A PREMIUM MEMBER


Unlock all the Benefits

Click For More Info

  • Terms And Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Careers
  • The IPS Project
  • Contact

© Inner Path Seekers 2022 – All Right Reserved

Healing Yourself Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Learn with a licensed therapist using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, an evidence-based psychotherapy, to heal yourself.

Read the Full Course Description