At the time of the departure, 36 % of French people stress at the idea of making their suitcase. This is at least the last figure revealed by Opodo, online travel agency. A real anxiety, which mainly affects the youngest and seniors. But why do you put such a pressure to make your suitcase? Our psychologist’s response.
62 % of French people prepare their suitcases a few days before departure
Is it really a surprise? 36 %of French people stressed at the idea of doing their suitcase, behind the Portuguese (44 %) and ahead of the English (34 %).
Women are also much more anxious than men at the idea of doing their suitcase: 40 % of them feel stress, against only 26 % of men.
An anxiety that affects two types of population: 18-24 year olds (43%) and seniors aged 65 and over (40%). But to avoid this stress, 28 % of 35-44 year olds are ready “to pay additional luggage fees“.
Other striking figures: 16 % of French people travel with “An almost empty suitcase“In order to buy everything on site, while 13 % of them”Put on several layers of clothing to save space “ in their luggage.
Finally, 62 % of them prepare their suitcases a few days before departure, when only 10 % are waiting for the last hours to do so. Help that says a lot about the French state of mind.
By doing his suitcase, we try “to predict the unpredictable”
You might think that preparing your suitcase is the next vacation promise. A good time … and yet, “For almost a third of French people, it is a real source of stress“, Prevents Amélie Boukhobza, clinical psychologist.
“There are indeed those who procrastinate until the last minute. Those who make a list, then a second. Those who weigh, go back, kidnap, add … Then start again. So why so much anxiety for a simple suitcase? Because what we put there is not just a jersey and a toothbrush. It is a projection, an attempt to control everything. We thus try to predict the unpredictable: weather, mood, unforeseen, needs “, underlines the practitioner.
And for the anxious, this simple reactive baggage finally all this: the fear of forgetting, of not being ready, of not “managing”. “”As if everything was based there, in this too full or too empty bag. “
“Building your suitcase implies making choices. It also means giving up, a little: some objects,” in case “, some security. For many, experience becomes uncomfortable. So we dramatize, we anticipate excess, we are on the way. And the suitcase turns into a miniature theater of all our interior tensions”, continues the expert.
But in real life? “”We only need an identity document, a credit card … and ours. With these few elements, we can go to the end of the world “, she concludes.