Baggage claim

I have the travel itch.
No, not the kind you get from traveling to a damp place when your feet don't dry out completely. The kind where I'm itching to travel.

I love to travel. And, surprisingly for me, the past few years' worth of travel experiences prepared me for traveling to places off the beaten path. To experience new sites, sights, sounds, tastes, sensations. To transport me out of my comfort zone, so I have the potential to experience personal transformation.

I really want to travel.

Currently, though, I do not have any pleasure travel plans coming soon. I have seriously considered it, but with a homework list a mile long, plus job #1, and job #2, oh yea, and the offspring, time (and lack of available funding) is a bit of a hindrance. I'm currently running a triage center of life. Life sustenance gets priority. But that doesn't mean I'm not mentally packing my bags and taking off on a plane to somewhere.

Ah, baggage. No matter how carefully you pack, you always bring more than you need. Go on, shake your head at me while you remember that one time you packed so minimally and carefully, and used everything you put in your luggage or pack.You still brought extra baggage.

Wherever we travel, be it to work, or school, the store, or some far off location, we bring baggage. Intentionally or unintentionally, our baggage hitches a ride. Every experience, every breath, every thought, every feeling you experience up to this moment gets packed away in your baggage. You cannot control it.

What you can control, though, is what you unpack and use every trip you take. And, you can control how you react to others' baggage. Just like going to the airport and watching that passenger wheel the clearly oversized piece of luggage to the jetway, along with the personal item that is the size of your own carry-on. You watch that person struggle with stowing it (or not!) in the overhead bin as the awaiting passengers line up behind you, each carrying his or her own baggage. Do you empathize with the struggle? Are you frustrated by every inconvenience you experienced that day to that moment, leading you to glare and exhale sharply the longer it takes? Do you step in to help shoulder the burden, quickening the process and providing a moment of ease for another, and relief for those waiting?

Baggage is not a negative association to assign a person you tried to date, but it just didn't work out. Baggage doesn't have to be an oversized piece of luggage you mistakenly carry aboard a plane. Your baggage is the accumulation of your life experiences, your thoughts, your feelings, your growth. It does not define you, but it helps to shape who you are and how you choose to greet the world each moment you are alive.

How you package it is entirely up to you. I prefer to package mine, and unpack it, intentionally. Something subtle, yet beautiful, with a dash of color to individualize it. What is your preferred package?