Packing, Passports, and Pilgrimages
Nothing really prepares you for the IRL (in real life) version of Tetris–which happens to be a bit more intimidating than the virtual version of the tile matching game. But arguably also induces similar anxieties, complexities, and creativities to packing. While there are no falling three-dimensional tiles involved in the art of packing, there are several commonalities that must follow the basic rules, which are as followed…
The Game Objective:
To arrange, rotate, and geometrically align the blocks until there are no visible blank spaces left.
The Challenge:
The clock ticking while the ROY G BIV blocks quickly descend. If the player fails to line the blocks fast enough, the field will start to fill up until the game inevitably ends.
The “Easy” or “Infinite” Spin:
The blocks either align or they don’t. When they don’t match up, they quickly pile on and empty spaces disintegrate. The game is designed to maximize the number of pieces.
Now imagine this game of Tetris is the cardboard boxes you stuff into the trunk of your car that hold the past nine years of your life. They hold the now empty picture frames, faux Christmas trees you once use to put up together with your significant other, the snowsuit you bundled up in skiing next to the Matterhorn. Piles of clothes, home decor, kitchenware, trinkets, souvenirs, and memories, stowed away into powdery, brown boxes of cardboard. It’s more emotional and less strategic than the nine-day lookbook for Scotland. It doesn’t fit in a packing cube, it doesn’t fit in your mom’s Toyota Rav4 in one trip, and it doesn’t fit into the life you once envisioned for yourself. It’s the end of a decade and the beginning of a new journey.
Sometimes the pieces don’t always align the way you planned and that’s okay. As someone who tends to dwell on the uncontrollable elements in life, I often live by Paulo Coelho’s reoccurring theme of “Matktub” in the Alchemist. This also happens to be the impromptu tattoo I got in Colombia, which serves as my reminder that “it is written.” In the novel, the boy says, “and when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.” I’m led by the good and bad omens that guide my intuition.
I’m embarking on my next solo adventure, figuratively and literally. It took a lot of Instagram affirmations to get here, but my bags are packed and I’m boarding my next flight to the new chapter in my life, entitled: Self-Discovery. Sometimes to be strong is to let go. And while I may not know where I’m going, or what I’m doing, I’m figuring it out. One trip, one affirmation, and one day at a time.
I’m collecting new memories in this season in life like I collect passport stamps, postcards, and plane tickets. I’m romanticizing self-care, afternoon coffee runs, hopeless romantic journal entries, drive-in movie theatre dates, and picnics with Mostaco D’Asti under the stars. I’m practicing self-love, healthy habits, and optimism. I’m finally chasing the once distant dreams that are becoming my reality. I’m finally free and I’m ready for my next pilgrimage.
I hope you are too
xx,
Macy
