Baggage Fees May Apply...

Life Lesson #34 - Baggage will follow you from job to job and relationship to relationship until you face and deal with what’s in the bags!


Could you catch a flight right now with all the baggage you have? What if you were charged for all that baggage, even if the first was free (and Southwest isn't an option)? You would be a whole new kind of broke.

We've been traveling around with our baggage for so long they've become apart of the backdrop of our daily lives. They just get carried around like a pair of old runned pantyhose in our purse (I'm not the only one that does that). What gets me is how some folks are proud to say they have baggage; a whole set of Louis Vuitton. Really? First, if all your baggage is a matching set - says to me you've been burned on the same lesson over and over again, and have yet to face your main issue. Secondly, I'd hope it’s not a full set with the hanging bag, cosmetics case, carry on, laptop bag and stewardess bag... it's not a badge of honor.

Let's be real - time to unpack our bags. I try to take inventory and see if there's anything in my carryon (limiting myself to a carryon and one personal item, like a purse). I try to accept my lessons and learn from them. Hence, going through the bags and unpacking. Why let that stuff, those unresolved issues, follow you into a new relationship or environment? You can never be better than where you are if you don't leave that stuff behind. Now, I'm not saying drop it and forget it - as that would defeat the purpose, and you would acquire the same bag somewhere else. You have to open the bag up, take stuff out piece by piece and understand what it is and work through it.

In one of my past relationships, he lumped me in with his old baggage. While I didn't treat him like his ex's he still would place that hurt on me, therefore limiting the growth in our relationship and thus ending it. I try my hardest not to do that in relationships, but I realize that it creeps up on me every now and then. I recognize it and do my best to squash it. I'll talk it out with my significant other so he'll understand why I reacted the way I did, what I'm doin' to work it out and how I need their assistance in that...and we keep it movin'.

SO, unpack and have a yard sale! Get rid of his old T-shirt that still smells like him (umm...doubt that after 5 years); that Teddy bear she bought you (who now has a hole in its chest to simulate what she did with your heart); the bed you bought for your first place together (My God you still have that?!); and all those cards you re-read that bring the hurt flooding back. Why do you keep this stuff and drag them around everywhere you go?

Let's work on reducing our baggage- limiting it to 1 personal item that can fit under the seat in front of you or in the overhead compartment.





Now, all of the things I write are my life's lessons. I share so that maybe others can learn from what I've been through or seen. I don't have all the answers (well, maybe most...) but its something to ponder. I'm not a therapist and this is not intended to provide counseling or advice. Just someone who feels they've learned a thing or two.