What’s in the Bag? What’s in the Bag!? A Neurospicy Mexican Packing List (Dive Gear Included)

Off we go to Mexico!
Planning note 04 · 25 October 2026

I am a planner.

A big one.

I spend an inordinate amount of time on the planning stage of most endeavors (except when I’m completely the opposite and insanely impulsive, though you’d be surprised how many times those two things aren’t really mutually exclusive), researching as many things as possible in as much detail as I can. Hours upon hours upon days upon weeks upon months. Info gathering. Measuring. Plotting. Getting my grok on.

I don’t know if this is just a typical “over organized control freak” thing, or one of the tangible pieces of scaffolding that helps minimize uncertainty and thus avoid things that could cause a meltdown in the future. I’m not sure there needs to be a reason for it. It just is what it is.

It’s not just in times of hyper-focus though; it’s transitions overall. I think my body knows how much effort and executive function that any change or task switching will take – all the steps, the amount of time, the energy. Knowing the exact expenditure of what it will cost often prevents the task process from starting at all, or at least waiting until the very last minute for the adrenaline to kick in and provide the chemical boost needed. Even then, it still may not happen.

This sounds a little bit like…well, masochism when I stop and think about how many transitions I end up actively CHOOSING to make. Big, major transitions as well as simple task switching. I’m always on the road, traveling from state to state, country to country, for a training or a dive trip or a retreat or a festival or to visit family and friends. And because I have chosen this lifestyle – a lifestyle that often costs me a lot emotionally and physically, that requires transitions and executive functioning, that can be overstimulating and feel impossible at times – I find ways to accommodate my nervous system. I give it what it wants, and what it wants is a lot of data and a plan of action.

So the (over) planning, especially for big things, is really a crucial element in being able to actually do those big things at all.  It gives a structure to my dopamine hits, I guess, something I hear many AuDHDers understand.

I am also NOT inflexible with said plans (most of the time). I am very open to making changes, and if you’d seen how many drafts of this trip I’ve made, or even the OTHER workbooks I have on Thailand and the Philippines, then you’d know I have the joy of being both stubborn and fickle 😊 I often do a complete 180. Usually it’s because impulsively I will have one thought, and then after contemplation, the other does, in fact, make more sense. Or possibly, I continue to waffle between things. This happens a LOT. Still examining why (that’s a whole other blog post on Dabrowski).

But I am digressing, because this is supposed to be a post about packing. Which has been happening for probably close to a month now. Before Curaçao, after Memphis. It was actually quite useful to have so many weeks of travel, bouncing between the those places as well as Costa Rica, Canada, Pittsburgh, and of course NY. As you can see, that’s been a huge number of transitions as I mentioned, but each trip also proved helpful in deciding what I would be bringing with me to Mexico. I could see what was comfortable, what was easy to wear, what felt gross in humidity, what I really loved, and what I never wore. So when it came down to the final home stretch, most things had been decided, narrowed down, and selected carefully, though I am quite certain any avid traveler who reads my list will laugh at the perceived bulk of it, especially while only spending a week in each place.

But packing is the last piece of scaffolding, the part of the transition that I can pay for in advance, even if the cost is high (and the weight even higher).

It is, in fact, a lot. In the end, my dive suitcase (which I shoved my protein bars into because I still had some pounds left) came in at exactly 50 lbs aka “the limit.” My clothing suitcase is 49.5lbs. My totally full regulator bag shoved into a duffle with some odds and ends that didn’t fit elsewhere is over 20lbs, and I can barely hoist my equally full backpack onto my back. I will not be winning the award for “lightest traveler of the year” any time soon, of this I am certain. Nor most spontaneous traveler. Or lowest maintenance.

But the packing is part of the planning and is part of what helps me to feel…safe. It helps my nervous system have one less thing to worry about. I don’t just pack for looking “nice” or for whatever other reason people pack. I pack for comfort in a way that doesn’t just mean comfortable to wear physically. It’s about being comfortable in my environment – blending in, making sure I’m “matching” what others are wearing, being culturally appropriate and respectful, like making sure I carried a sarong with me in Bali, or a scarf to cover my head in Paris when I was 16. It’s about being comfortable with the climate, the actual heat and humidity, and knowing I may have to change clothes several times a day. That what felt ok in the morning may not feel ok in the evening. It’s knowing some days I won’t want to leave the house. I’ll be overwhelmed and need a recovery day. And I’ll want comfy cosy safe clothes.

It’s also about my plans. I need a bunch of dive stuff, that’s just a thing 😊 An entire suitcase full of things, in fact. This particular trip is about 35% diving, and I am so unbelievably excited to be trying out a bunch of new gear, including my first backplate and wing set up for my BC (buoyancy compensator for the non-divers out there). And my groovy new fins, which I think are beautiful and turned out really cool (plus making art helped when my ADHD needed to switch tasks and use my energy on something more creative than confirming car rentals and canje appointments). But those things are heavy and take up space and there is just no way I’m going to be backpacking it on a 7.5 week trip with gear.

And so, with my 4 bags ready to fulfill their supporting role, and without further ado or digressions (though I suppose my musings weren’t a digression after all…), the list 😊 Oh, and I do promise I’ll report back on what I never wore, but no promises on when.