Baggage Claim

We have this idea that baggage is a bad thing—that it needs to be let go of or left behind. But if we left our bag at the airport, we'd be unprepared for the journey.

So what if we claimed our baggage instead?

As human beings, we always come with baggage. Our experiences, relationships, grief, beliefs, adaptations, coping mechanisms, and survival tools become part of what we carry. Some things in our bag are precious. Some help us. Some weigh us down. Some were never ours to begin with.

When we were running from things that were genuinely dangerous, we couldn't carry everything. We may have hidden pieces of ourselves—our innocence, joy, trust, creativity, compassion, and other tender parts—in tree hollows, caves, and hidden places throughout the Wildwood. And we picked things up along the way.

Sometimes we found our own survival tools. Sometimes they were modeled, handed down, or normalized by the adults around us. We learned how to cope by watching the people who were supposed to teach us how to navigate the world. Some of those tools helped us survive. Some may have become harmful or unsafe.

We don't shame the child for what they picked up while they were running.

Instead, we bring light to the places where they hid. We return for the pieces that belong to us. We make space for those parts to be seen without judgment and heard without shame.

Then we unpack the bag.

We empty it completely—even the tiny fragments we forgot were there. We examine what we've been carrying and ask what still serves us, what has completed its purpose, what can be transformed, and what we are ready to release.

We don't have to throw away the whole structure and start over. We deprogram, dismantle, rebuild, and salvage as much of the building material as we can. We keep what is useful. We transform what can be transformed. We learn new tools for self-care and well-being.

And eventually, the goal is not to live forever as though we're still running through the woods.

We build a home we can return to. We learn to feel safe enough to inhabit our own bodies. We allow the parts of ourselves to communicate and become integrated. We discover what genuinely supports us and make those things part of our lives.

Some things that once had to be carried everywhere can eventually be placed safely on a shelf.

Then we pack our bag for a journey—not for a lifetime on the run. And the work doesn't end there. Life changes. Seasons change. We change. So we continue to check our baggage, because what serves us in one season may not serve us in another.

We unpack. We examine. We reclaim. We release. We transform. We repack.

By learning how to process, integrate, transform, and attune, we get to choose the tools that serve us best and what we allow to come along on the next part of the journey.

Because the goal was never to become baggage-free. The goal is to know what we're carrying and choose what we allow to come along.

Take it back. It's yours. So is your well-being.