Baggage weighing you down?

Big trash pick up

Saturday was big trash pick up in Shawnee, Kansas. Not special news to most people, but it was spectacular for Kia and I. I was amazed, amused and fascinated by the trucks, trailers and minivans full of other people’s junk. I

literally sat on my porch for nearly an hour watching them circle the neighborhood looking for big trash gold.

Horders?

Before I sat on the porch, I mowed my lawn. Passing from front to back, I noticed the pickers driving by the house. While mowing, I reflected back nearly 15 years ago when we lived in a different suburb of KC.

There, as here in Shawnee, the same ritual took place once a year. It brought back memories of the trash I put in front of our house.

One old guy pulled up in his ratty, old station wagon. It was packed front to back and top to bottom with junk. He stopped and sifted through my stuff, including an old collection of nuts and bolts. He took it, found a few other things, crammed them into the station wagon, and headed off to the next treasure pile.

I now wonder if he along with some driving by this weekend suffer from the ‘hoarding’ disorder. Probably not but most people driving through my neighborhood were picking up old fence posts because they could, not because they needed them.

Unnecessary baggage

All of these thoughts were racing around in my head when the big one came.

Am I picking up unnecessary emotional baggage in my life?

Let me ask you, and I ask because it’s so easy to do, are you picking up emotional baggage you simply don’t need?

Are you taking offense over things you have nothing to do with? Are you worrying about issues you have no business worrying about? Are you still angry at people from 15 years ago? Are you fearful of the unknown?

If we answer yes to any of these, then you and I are weighing ourselves down with things that don’t belong to us. We might be emotional hoarders.

Online baggage

Want to know someplace you can easily pick up unneeded baggage?

Facebook.

I know because I nearly fell victim to Facebook baggage last week.

A well-intentioned lady called me out for posting a link to an article with an image offensive to her. From what I can tell, it was offensive because it represents some of her past. Her opinion was based on baggage she hasn’t let go of.

Without using these words, she invited me to pick up this baggage and carry it too. I felt the request immediately. You know the feeling . The knot in your gut signaling you’ve done something wrong, but you can’t figure out what.

Over the last few years, I’ve learned a trick in these situations.

Stop.

I stop and reflect on what is happening. Have I done anything wrong? I looked at the article again. I looked at the image. Both were solid and helpful, so I made a choice…

I refused to hold her baggage, and politely handed it back.

Let go of your baggage.

Some of you are holding on to stuff you have no need for. Just like the guy picking up the rusted out washing machine, you don’t need to hold on to the hurt from your high school ex-girlfriend. It’s baggage weighing you down.

My encouragement is two-fold:

1. Let go.
2. Don’t pick up more.

You don’t need it.