Things That Make Me Feel Like 'Me'
If someone told you right now to stop what you were doing and take whatever you could carry out of your house. Your goal - to take only the things that you love.
Aside from people and pets and things, what would you take? For me, wedding video comes to mind, even though I’ve never watched the thing…
But if someone asked you to take only the things that you love like, really really love, and everything else is assumed to be replaceable to a degree, what would you take?
Picture yourself calmly but briskly walking around your house, picking things to put in a very overpriced trendy leather overnight bag, with the intention of never coming back. What are those things you couldn’t be without? Or wouldn’t want to be without? Or those things that feel so much like you in that moment that losing them would be like leaving a piece of yourself behind. Those things that feel like they describe you and who you are as a person beneath the surface.
I’d take things that make me feel like me, or things that exemplify parts of myself that I really like.
I’d take my crushed velvet red chunky boots by Seychelles with the three-inch heel, because they make me feel like a badass from a fashion perspective and just in life. Because I earned those - that was my treat to myself after I crushed my sales goals one month.
I’d take my little words project bracelet that says “Be Free” surrounded by multi-colored beads and plastic pieces. Because if you’re in the middle of packing up all your shit chances are you’re going to need a little reminder that you can do anything and nothing can hold you back if you just remember who you are.
I’d take my Paul Richard skull print, because I think its so cool and so amazing and so random to have in my house because it seems kind of dark and creepy but I think it’s beautiful and alive and something I wish I could do one day - something that you love so much that other people notice how good you are at it.
I’d take my Mac. To be honest I’m not sure what I’d do if I wasn’t connected to the outside world in one day and also to be honest I really love my MacBook with its too cool for school aviator sunglasses sticker because I get to write stuff like this on it and look up cool things like when the James Webb space telescope is actually supposed to launch now and sit at Starbucks with overear headphones on sipping on a flat white with almond milk that it so frothy you forget for a second what you were trying to write this time.
Given the above, headphones are a must. I have two favorites - one for the gym and stuff, and the other for literally everything else, so it would have to be the latter - my Beats by Dre. Music is everything to me. You can dance to it, laugh to it, sway to it, fuck to it - everything is better with music. Music and dancing can change a mood instantly every time, even if you’re in a shit situation.
I’d for sure be taking my Uggs, mostly because I’d be wearing them out the door to carry all my shit and because lets be real, I’m a Long Island girl (okay, young woman), and what is a Long Island girl lady without her classic Uggs. I’d definitely take the gray ones though, not the chestnut, because the gray are newer so I can still wear them without socks and it feels amazing - is it super bougie that I own more than one pair of Uggs and this is actually a conversation? Probably. Mostly. Yes, duh - who am I kidding.
I’d take my rings - besides the engagement ring and wedding band that I’d already be wearing so it doesn’t count, I’d take my jade ring that I got when we went to China almost ten years ago. I’d take my silver ring that I got in South Dakota - about halfway through leg one of my cross-country solo roadtrip, because it reminds me of my adventure, and it reminds me that I’m strong and I can do anything and I can be by myself and be okay and that this world is beautiful and magical and weird and different and that’s why I love exploring so much.
I’d take a silver wrapped crystal necklace that belonged to my grandma. I don’t even ever remember her wearing it, I just remember finding it while attempting for the millionth time to clean out her now empty room and just connecting with it. I’m not one of those “crystals heal the world people”, but I can almost swear that I feel her energy around me when I wear it.
I’d take my pillow, because you know my back sucks and if I sleep on a regular pillow that’s not at maximum level of fluff or ergonomically correct my (apparently aging) 30-something year old neck will freeze up indefinitely. If you’re wondering how a perfect pillow like this will fit in my overnight bag, fear not - it comes with a vacuum seal-friendly bag for just this occasion, or maybe something less weird, but still applies.
I’d take my Black Xs perfume because it makes me feel sexy as fuck and I remember the first time I smelled it on my wrists on a crisp fall day in Paris. Instantly, I fell in love, with myself and what that smell made me feel like doing and the kind of life I could live if that smell was the embodiment of me.
I’d take my notebook and two pens - one blue and one black. Even though I love my Mac, every so often nothing is quite like pen and paper. Being able to scratch things out when you accomplish them or get crazy ideas out of your head and in front of you so you can vet whether it’s a ridiculous idea or not. And why the two pens? So I can choose which color I feel like writing in based on my mood, obviously.
