What Stays What Goes

As I pack for my vacation the question of what to take and what to leave behind has been on mind throughout the day. One minute I want to take everything and the next, I want to take practically nothing. Obviously I can't take everything. It won't all fit in my suitcase. Besides, if I were to take everything, it wouldn't feel much like a vacation. I'd be spending my time trying to take care of too much stuff. On the other hand, I have to take enough, or I'll end up having to spend time and money acquiring things at my destination point that I won't need when I get back home. By the time we load our bags in the car I know I will have found a happy medium.

In the journey of life some people like to travel light while others tend to carry excess baggage. If each phase of our life is to be better than the one before, we need to make a conscious decision as to what we'll take from our past experiences and what we'll leave behind.

If we bring along the excess baggage of hurts and disappointments we'll be too weighted down to move forward. On the other hand, if we don't bring along the lessons embedded in those hurts and disappointments our destination won't be any different from our place of departure.

On this vacation I plan to take along healthy habits, rather than excuses to over indulge. I'm also taking along my walking shoes, a good book, a writing notebook and most important, I'm taking open arms to hug my granddaughters. What I'm not taking is stress- it doesn't fit in my suitcase.