How do you pack for a year?

I packed one suitcase the other day to bring to London because I figured, “I might as well get a head start, right?” So, in the suitcase, I put sweaters, coats, boots, sweatpants and other similar items that I am obviously not wearing now because its the middle of the Summer in NYC (about that time of year when I want to rip my skin off because its so hot). So, as of now, those items are all set and ready to go! But what about the rest? How much of it will I be tempted to bring just because I want it, and how much of it do I actually need?

For instance, do I really need to bring ALL of my leggings? I definitely wear them a lot for dance and everyday, but do I really need them all, or should I only bring a few? Why do I have so many pairs of leggings in the first place? These are the dilemmas that I am facing. I know that they are not really anything to cry about, but I seriously don’t know what I’m going to need and what I’m going to be tempted to buy while I’m there. If there’s one thing I learned from getting my Bachelor’s degree on the west coast its that I definitely came home with much more than when I first left. The main reason why I truly felt the magnitude of the multiplication of crap that I accumulated was because I had to pack it all in a total of 13 large boxes and a car trunk and ship everything completely on my own. Then when I arrived in NY, there it was. A pile of crap packed into 13 smashed up boxes, which I then had to go through and unpack within a matter of one week. It was one of the most painful, tiring, and excruciating experiences of my life, which is only challenged by the current experience of “re-moving” all the crap that I had unpacked a year ago into storage so that my parents can downsize and I can move to London. Its making my head hurt just thinking about it.

As I sit here with my laptop on a mattress on the floor because my bed frame is already at the Pennsylvania house, all I can do is stare. Stare at the piles of clothes that no longer have the safety of shelter in their drawers (also already in PA), stare at the closet still filled with stuff that I don’t know if I’m bringing with me or not, and stare at the blank walls that were once, not too long ago, decorated with pictures and posters of things that make me happy. I’m tired of packing, but I know that it has to be done. I’m not ready to settle in one place and just be there forever. Who knows if I ever will be?

The only thing I do know right now is that I really am having a hard time with this packing thing. I have too much stuff and I don’t want to get rid of it because guess what... its MINE! I have an abnormal attachment to stuff, and I feel that if I don’t bring enough of my clothes, I’m going to miss them. Well, I guess its time to google “packing tips” again. Maybe I’ll find something new that I don’t already know. Doubt it.