Packing Paralysis.

Someone used this phrase in a post on facebook the other day and I thought it was perfect. What is it, you ask? Well from personal experience I'd describe it something like this:

Have you ever sat and stared at your suitcase for entirely too long, just hoping that if you look away for a bit and then look back it will m.a.g.i.c.a.l.l.y. be packed and ready to go?
It never is of course, but this realization can sometimes take days to happen. (Or hours, depending on your time frame.)

Knowing that I always get my self into this situation, I started packing about a week ago. I was hoping that the packing paralysis would run its course and I would still be able to get everything ready with a few days to spare.

No luck. Packing Paralysis saw through my plan and has stuck by my side like glue ever since.

And that's how I've got myself in the current situation. I haven't even attempted to pack my suitcase once, so I have no idea if everything will fit or if it will even be under the weight limit. I do however have all my clothes in piles next to my suitcase. They're taunting me.

Whenever I think "Okay, let's do this", they start to stare me down. The piles get bigger and bigger and I get filled with doubts like, "but won't I want to wear this shirt before I leave?" So then I turn away and decide to come back later.

And so on and so forth.

The other problem I've developed is 3rd World Country Syndrome. I don't know how else to describe it. I seem to think that Spain is similar to a 3rd world country, meaning that "no, I won't be able to buy deoderant there" or "of course I need to bring a water bottle and lap top case with me even though I've never had a use for them here at home and most likely won't need them in Spain, I want to bring them just in case I happen to need them there but stores don't sell them."

It's a very expensive syndrome.

The odd part is, I lived in Spain for 4 months so I have a pretty good idea of what they sell there. Oops.

Luckily I managed to talk myself out of the water bottle and lap top case (thank god since the case was $50...). I do however have 3 deoderant sticks, 4 various sizes of toothpaste, 3 tooth brushes, 3 contact cases, 6 packs of kleenex, and god knows what else. I'm not really sure where all my clothes are going to fit in among that.