The Pitfalls of Planning

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It turns out that planning to pack your life into two suitcases and planning to move halfway around the world requires more work than I initially anticipated. I have a cluster of neon-orange post-it notes on my wall, each with a task I have to complete before I leave Vancouver on January 12th. Every time I finish one, I pull it off the wall and breathe a tiny sigh of relief.

Throwing out the post-it note is bliss.

Some are small things – ordering sheets for my dorm room. Others require a little more work – passport renewals, getting prescriptions for six months of a medication, and explaining to assorted friends and family why I’m moving away, where I’m going, and why on earth I think it’s a good idea.

I feel like I’m constantly thinking about the small things and forgetting the bigger picture. Will there be a chance to buy shampoo when I arrive? Will I manage with the travel size bottles or should I figure out a way to wrangle a bigger size into my suitcase?

I think about these things at 2am instead of wondering about what my dorm room will be like, and the people that I meet. I think it’s a way of trying to control the situation, but part of me feels like laughing when I wake up in the middle of the night worried about being able to get my favourite skin-care products in eSwatini, and should I just start washing my face with plain bar soap now and see what happens?

The face of the matter is that there’s a lot to do, and honestly, I probably should have started to think about this sooner. My advice for anyone who’s going to be facing this next year is to have a long conversation with your family about the steps you need to take before leaving.

Figure out your game plan ahead of time – or else you’re left with a wall-ful of post-it notes that seem to stare at you menacingly. It’s not a fun feeling.

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