baggage

He tells me everyone has baggage.

I am no exception.  I don’t have the 5-piece matching set with little rolling wheels (I always have jokes), but I have some none-the-less.

I imagine us all – commuting, walking, or hanging out with our collection of carry-ons, carryalls, and that 5-piece matching set.  Invisible luggage clogging up our space until someone accidentally trips over a piece.

I think of mine… what would it look like?  I don’t suppose I would have a say in its creation as, like everyone else’s, it was forged in circumstance.  I’d like to think that it would look like a messenger bag – soft, buttery leather with a strong, adjustable strap.  A small but heavy bag, travel size for my inconvenience.

And it does travel with me.

But how do we get rid of the baggage? Can we just leave it somewhere?  Forget it in a hotel room and never see it again? Doubtful.

Or is there a benefit to seeing and acknowledging it? Maybe there’s power in examining the contents and holding the dark contents to the light.

At one point, we were all that pristine “before” to our current “after.” We didn’t have baggage – the hurt, fear, or anxieties – that we have now. But maybe by sorting through all of that baggage, we become better than that earlier pristine person. We become something else – imperfect, sure. But also armed with knowledge of experiences and of ourselves.

Maybe that’s where the work and true growth is – in opening up that suitcase and learning.