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“Letting go of baggage means accepting that the journey matters more than the weight we carry.”

How many times in life do we find ourselves stuck, exhausted, on the side of the road, simply because the weight on our shoulders feels impossible to bear? Invisible baggage, made up of hurts, guilt, resentments, traumas, or fears, silently accompanying us. Often, we don’t even realize that they are no longer necessary. They have already served their purpose, already taught us what they needed to teach. Yet we continue to carry them, almost as if pain were a required passport to keep going.

This is an invitation to reflect on the possibility of letting go, leaving the suitcases on the roadside of life, and moving forward more lightly. It’s an invitation to emotional intelligence — that essential skill that allows us to identify, understand, and manage our own emotions, promoting a fuller and more meaningful life.

Emotional Weight and Its Silent Scars

Society has taught us, from a very young age, that being strong means enduring everything. “Don’t cry,” “Get over it,” “Suck it up,” “Don’t show weakness.” And so, we fill ourselves with emotional baggage, much of which doesn’t even belong to us. They are other people’s expectations, roles we assume to please, inherited guilt, fears passed down through generations.

Daniel Goleman, author of the classic “Emotional Intelligence”, explains that it is not enough to be cognitively smart; we need to develop the ability to deal with our internal states, with the feelings that arise within us, to then find balance. According to him, “emotional self-control is a virtue that protects against the wear and tear of toxic emotions.”

But how can we practice this self-control when we are overwhelmed? When our inner backpacker is carrying suitcases that feel made of lead?

The Difficulty of Dropping the Suitcases

Letting go of emotional baggage is not a simple gesture. Often, they become part of our identity. Who will we be without that trauma, without that resentment, without that story of pain we’ve always told ourselves?

Writer and activist Maya Angelou, who faced severe abuse and prejudice throughout her life, used to say: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” This is the essence of emotional detachment. It is choosing not to be defined by scars but by the lessons they leave behind.

Sometimes we hold on to this baggage because we fear the emptiness. After all, if we drop the weight, what remains? Who am I without this attachment? But in truth, when we release the excess, we make room for the new, for lightness, for peace.

What Does It Mean, in Practice, to Let Go of the Baggage?

Letting go of baggage does not mean ignoring what hurt us, nor pretending we didn’t suffer. Quite the opposite. We must look compassionately at our own past, recognize the pain and honor it, but not allow it to continue defining our steps.

Tara Brach, psychologist and author of “Radical Acceptance”, proposes precisely this approach: embracing our humanity, with all its flaws and vulnerabilities, with an open and compassionate heart. She writes: “The path of healing begins when we stop fighting ourselves and instead embrace ourselves as we are.”

This is the true act of emotional intelligence: not suppressing feelings, but understanding their origins, their function, and allowing them to follow their natural flow, without stagnation.

The Cycle of Pain: How We Perpetuate Emotional Weights

Often, we hold on to emotional baggage out of fear of reliving the pain. We prefer the familiar discomfort to the risk of opening the wound and leaving it exposed. But ironically, it is precisely this attachment that perpetuates the suffering.

Carl Jung, one of the fathers of depth psychology, said: “What you resist, persists.” When we resist looking at our wounds, they take root, shaping our behaviors and relationships without our awareness.

For example, someone who experienced rejection in childhood may unconsciously carry that baggage and project it onto every relationship, afraid of being abandoned again. Thus, the weight remains, guiding choices and building emotional walls.

Breaking this cycle requires courage. It requires the conscious decision to open the suitcase, rummage through its contents, thank what was useful, and then, gently, leave it by the roadside.

Small Practices to Let Go of the Weight

Letting go of emotional baggage is not a one-time event, but a continuous process. Some practices can help in this movement:

1. Non-judgmental self-observation: notice which recurring feelings bring weight to your life. Anxiety? Guilt? Resentment? Simply observe, without self-criticism.
2. Therapeutic writing: put on paper the stories you carry. Often, by naming the pain, it loses some of the power it exerts over us.
3. Compassionate dialogue: talk about emotions with trusted people or mental health professionals. As Brené Brown, author of “The Gifts of Imperfection”, says: “Shame cannot survive being spoken.”
4. Meditation and mindfulness: techniques that teach us to observe thoughts and emotions kindly, realizing that they come and go like clouds in the sky.
5. Symbolic rituals: for some people, performing a ritual — such as writing a letter and burning it, planting a tree, or even discarding an object — can represent the release of emotional baggage.

The Rewards of Moving Forward More Lightly

When we let go of baggage, not only do we feel lighter, but we also make room to live the present more fully. We stop looking back with bitterness or ahead with fear and start walking with more confidence and serenity.

Philosopher and writer Eckhart Tolle, in “The Power of Now”, emphasizes that much of our suffering results from attachment to the past or anxiety about the future. He writes: “Freeing yourself from psychological time is the greatest benefit you can give yourself.” And there’s no way to free yourself from time without leaving behind the baggage that holds you back.

Moreover, by releasing the weight, we become more available to others. Relationships become more authentic, less marked by defenses or projections. Empathy flourishes, and we can offer the best of ourselves to the world.

Stories of Those Who Let Go of Their Baggage

Many authors and thinkers we admire today are living examples of people who dropped their emotional baggage to pursue a fuller path.

Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and survivor of Nazi concentration camps, lost everything: family, freedom, dignity. But instead of carrying the pain as a burden that would destroy him, he transformed it into a life mission. In his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”, he states: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Frankl shows us that even the most atrocious pains can be transformed into purpose.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love”, shared her journey of leaving behind an unhappy marriage and a life that didn’t fulfill her to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Her story inspired millions to break free from patterns and expectations that no longer serve them.

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years imprisoned, a victim of an oppressive and racist system. When he finally left prison, he could have carried hatred, resentment, a desire for revenge. But he chose to let go of that baggage and bet on reconciliation. His life is a shining example of how choosing to drop the weight can change not only one’s own trajectory but that of an entire nation.

The Final Invitation: Moving Forward Lightly

We all carry something. No one walks through life unmarked. But we can choose what we carry forward. Not everything needs to go with us. Some pains can be left behind, like dry leaves that have completed their cycle.

Letting go of baggage is not a loss, but a gain. We gain freedom, emotional health, internal space to welcome new experiences and relationships. As Clarissa Pinkola Estés beautifully wrote in “Women Who Run With the Wolves”: “Letting go does not mean losing, but creating space for what is yet to come.”

So may we look at our suitcases with compassion and gratitude, recognize what we’ve learned from them, and have the courage to leave them by the roadside. The journey is too long and beautiful to be traveled with unnecessary burdens.

Remember: “Letting go of baggage means accepting that the journey matters more than the weight we carry.”
And so, we go on. Lighter. Freer. More whole.