Posts

Showing posts from February 17, 2013

Pack Light: The Real Cost of Relationship Baggage By Lakara Foster, M.ED

Image
A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with a friend who was excitedly going over her itinerary for an upcoming trip to Europe. Her plan is to visit several countries over the course of a few weeks. My friend proceeded to tell me she was planning to only take a backpack with all of the essentials she could cram into it. She explained that it is cheaper to fly from country to country within Europe because the airlines only allow you to bring carry-on luggage so everyone on board has to “pack light”. During the course of this seemingly general conversation, I had a major breakthrough about relationships. There is a very real and heavy cost when you choose to carry baggage from relationship to relationship instead of unpacking before each journey.  Not dealing with your “stuff” can affect you on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. Within one year of finishing graduate school, I found myself in an emotionally abusive relationship and 25 pounds heavier. This period began a