Walking with my Baggage

Have you every felt like you can't go on.... Like the world is on your shoulders and the storm will never stop...

Life sometimes can be cruel, plaguing us with so much uncertainities; and as we struggle with our past and our inhibitions we seem to be unable to move forward. The baggage that we carry, often makes us question our strength. 

I met a young lady, who in tears said that she was not strong. And, as she spoke she said "you don't know what I am going through, I am weak". I looked at her and said, "no, you are not weak it is the baggage that you carry that is preventing you from moving forward". She smiled as her eyes filled with water.

As we conversed, and she shared her story; it dawned on me that even with incremental progress, even with incremental success she still could not embrace the new opportunities that life presented. 

The reality is that when we go through hurt, disappointments and deceptions; if we have not dealt with it and accepted what has happened it will be difficult for us to continue with our lives. We, must also understand that our strength sometimes will come from support and not many of us can overcome by ourselves.  

In our conversations, she also shared that she did not want "hand-outs", "she wanted to make it without seeking help from anyone". And, while I understand  not wanting to let someone into your space because of fear of being disappointed. We need to realize that in this journey of life; that we all need support and that we all need someone. 

Further, we must understand,  that though the journey is ours, we can't always walk the journey alone without a helping hand.  I expressed this to her, and noted that just talking with me is proof that she needed support.

We ended the conversation where she acknowledged that she needs help to release the baggage so that she can face the future and what it had to offer.

The lesson to learn here, is that while we can never erase our past. We must never let our past hinder our future.  Instead, it must be used as our example for moving forward. In addition, we must understand that we all need a hand sometimes, a voice of reason and that individual that we can lean on to help us ride the storm.