Photographed by Bradley Wentzel
“YOU CAN’T MOVE VERY FAST
IF YOU’RE CARRYING A LOT OF BAGGAGE.”
—April Holmes, Paralympic Gold Medalist, 100 meter dash
I found this quote the other day as I was flipping through a magazine at the CVS. Now I don’t do a lot of soul-searching while I’m waiting in a long line to pay for Advil and chocolate. Most of the time I’m wondering why the self-check out aisle is not working properly, or why I just didn’t buy the stuff when I was at the supermarket the day before. But sometimes a lesson just comes out of the blue.
I imagine that after losing her leg in a train accident this chick was pretty much not wanting to hear the silver lining to losing a major appendage, but I guess she did.
The advice appears to be basic common sense that people at airports or train stations follow. I mean if you’re running to make your plane or your train, you know that your carry-on baggage is going to slow you down and you might even miss that plane or train. I mean it would be easier if you had one of those carts. In truth it would be easier if you had no baggage. But nevertheless there you are running all crooked, hair flying everywhere, shoulders killing you, luggage straps not really doing their job, and your knees not really cooperating during this sprint to the gate. It appears that sometimes in real life we’re doing the exact same thing and this airport/train station wisdom escapes us.
It’s easy to get weighed down by all the crap in your life that isn’t going right — an accident, a job, a relationship, family drama, bills, or whatever crisis is making you eat tubs of rocky road ice cream at midnight. I know. I’m guilty of this. I admit it, it is easy.
But this Holmes makes a good point. She smacked me with some common sense. If you’re tied to your past (AKA your baggage) you’re not going to get very far in the future. Common sense, yes. But sometimes we have brain farts and this wisdom escapes us. Or maybe we just don’t go to the airport on vacations as much as we’d like, so the whole baggage weighing you down isn’t a recurring metaphor. But it’s all good. I get reminders … reminders at places like the CVS. So drop your bags, man! Drop ’em and go.
The Wish Factor 
Travelling light is the way to go in life. May it be physical baggages or internal. Going simple is one secret to a happy , peaceful heart. Thanks for sharing a priceless widsom!
I meant wisdom…oops.
I got you … wisdom. Very nice. Every once in a while I have these enlightening moments. And yes…going simple is sometimes the way to go. But sometimes I get all complicated. It must be my over-active writer or woman imagination 🙂
Love this post–so true!
Thanks glad you found it helpful, funny, and or light-hearted 🙂
I’ll try to remember this advice when I’m packing to return to Florida next weekend. 🙂
Definitely! Just your bikini because it’s still warm in some parts of the states. Don’t want you being weighed down 🙂 Make sure you post some pics I’d love to see where you go. I used to visit relatives in Ft. Lauderdale very nice… very nice.
If you live an active life, you’re going to have experiences, some might even be tragic, that will result in baggage such as Holmes suffering the loss of a leg. Unless you suffer a mental disorder where you have advanced CRS (Can’t Remember Shit), baggage is a fact of life and some seems worse than others such as Holmes’ leg loss. Who in their right mind would want that? I can suffer a crisis over an umbrella loss. How you handle your baggage, do you choose to travel heavy or light, is your choice as you figure out where you want to go. Your baggage is going to travel with you. Holmes appears to be dealing well with her leg loss. That’s great for her. Most of us will not have to deal with losing a limb, but that does not mean that the baggage we suffer is less problematic than hers; it’s just that everyone’s baggage is different. How you choose to deal with yours is up to you. Your outlook is responsible for the weight of your load — if it’s going to be heavy or light.
Wow Lame Adventures for someone who suffers from CRS you get pretty deep here. Sometimes an umbrella loss does drive you crazy when it starts pouring, but other times you just gotta buy a new umbrella. But you’re right about everyone having baggage and it weighing differently. And yeah … just because I didn’t lose a leg doesn’t mean my problems aren’t as traumatic as Holmes. I didn’t mean to imply that. I got plenty of baggage as does everyone else. But sometimes it burns me out when people who have it pretty good tend to complain and throw fits for stuff that seems like a step up in my book. Baggage … everyone sees it differently. I try to keep it light, but sometimes you just have one of those days.