My parents tell me that when I was a child I always asked others to carry my lunch box or backpack when I went to school so I could just skip around or play on the way. I think that need to go light through life, still remains.

So I doubt that if I had to pack a suitcase for a year, I would pack a lot of things, especially since I would be the one carrying it.
Maybe I would put the most elementary, necessary and indispensable things for me and I am almost sure, I know myself, that there would be no problem if I need something and I don't have it: I have learned to solve, to remedy, to look for a plan B and even a plan Z if plan A doesn't work.

I think the first thing I would do would be to include one or two good books, the kind that you have no problem reading a thousand times. La enfermedad, by Alberto Barrera T., and a poetry anthology by Eugenio Montejo or Yolanda Pantin come to mind.

For clothes I would take a bluyin, some cotton flannels and two dresses (one short and one long), maybe a sweater in case it's cold and I feel lonely. For sure I would also wear some comfortable tennis shoes and some leather braided sandals.

As for the so-called personal hygiene products, I would definitely pack a delicious perfume, coconut oil, deodorant, toothbrush, shampoo and conditioner. To add color to my world: I'll bring a lipstick and nail polish for when the days are too gray.

In a small, closed box, I would put a pair of scissors, a needle with black and white thread, two pain pills, a nail clipper and three band-aids for small wounds I'm sure I'll get because I'm so clumsy. Oh, and a stamp of the Virgin of the Valley to take care of me.

Sometimes it is not life that is heavy but the things we decide to carry “on our shoulders or dragging”, because in the end, who chooses what to carry is ourselves. When I travel with others, I am impressed by the amount of things they carry as luggage, only to complain about how heavy the suitcases are. Simplify life, always: no one forces you to carry any weight.