Your address will show here +12 34 56 78
Baggage, Emotional Trauma, Processing Trauma, Trauma Recovery

When you hear the term “Bag Lady” what is the first thing that comes to mind?

You may think instantly, it’s a homeless woman who carries her possessions in shopping bags right?

Well, let me give you a different perspective. The truth is a lot of us have been or still are bag ladies. Yes, the lady walking around like she has it all together but on the inside; her soul is filled with hurts, pains, disappointments and bitterness that I call Emotional Baggage. Mad at the world! You can hear her screams of hurt in her body language, her conversations and her pattern of broken relationships.

The weight of her soul issues stripes her identity into pieces, leaving her with nowhere to sort or unpack.

Are you HER? How long will you allow your bags to consume your life? When will you recycle the bags in their proper place? At some point, you’re going to have to throw them bags away!
 

 Have you ever heard the song “Bag Lady” by Erykah Badu?

I’ve always sung the words to this song without any real thought to what she was saying or letting the words penetrate. 


Read the lyrics below.
—————————————-
 
Bag lady you gone hurt your back
Dragging all them bags like that
I guess nobody ever told you
All you must hold onto, is you, is you, is you

 
One day all them bags gon’ get in your way
One day all them bags gon’ get in your way
I said one day all them bags gon’ get in your way
One day all them bags gon’ get in your way, so pack light,
Pack light, mm, pack light, pack light, oh ooh

 
Bag lady you gon’ miss your bus
You can’t hurry up, ’cause you got too much stuff


Bag lady, let it go let it go let it go let it go oh
You won’t believe it, it feels so much better, so much better baby
So oh, oh, oh, if you start breathin’ babe
You can’t deny it you can’t stop crying
Oh when someone hurts you oh so bad inside
Girl I know, sometimes it’s hard and we can’t let go
Girl you don’t need it
Bet ya love could make it better

—————————————-

Let that sink in for a moment!
 

Erykah was trying to give her sister’s a reality check! Let it go, heal and don’t miss your bus
Your bags were never meant to become your lifestyle.
 
Emotional Baggage can have you surviving life but not living it.
 
This week I want to challenge you to take one step towards your healing:

  1. Pick a traumatic experience that has contributed to your emotional baggage.
  2. Identify your negative emotions. (make a list to help you understand everything you felt or currently feeling)
  3. Write a statement of when you experienced each emotion and why? “Because of…. “I feel.” (stress, sadness, anxiety or fear…ect)
  4. Once you have addressed the root of the pain, accept the event and/or situation. It did happen, but it does not have to be something that you allow to haunt you.
  5. Give yourself permission to heal. Reject your sense of injury – you can’t change the past, but you can create a new future.
  6. If you’re comfortable, share this “bag” with someone that can be supportive and love you through.
  7. Encourage yourself daily with positive self-talk to reassure yourself the bag has been put in the proper place. The only amount of power it holds over you is the power you give to it. Take Your POWER Back!

Email me and let me know if this exercise helped. I‘d love to hear your feedback.
 

Here’s to moving from Trauma to Triumph, Fear to Faith and Brokenness to Strength.
Sia Moiwa
CEO & Founder – IOG

3