✈️  Baggage

Excerpt from Never Travel in a Straight Line

By Jim Menge

Everyone travels with baggage—some of us just overpack it into emotional carry-ons.

I’ve checked in luggage and checked out of relationships. I’ve rolled Samsonites through airports and metaphorical burdens through life. And somewhere between Gate A11 and therapy, I started noticing something:

Your baggage isn’t just a metaphor—it’s a recurring character in your journey.

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🧳 Your Baggage Tells a Story

Open anyone’s luggage, and you’ll see their priorities.

Open their emotional baggage, and you’ll learn their patterns.

I’ve seen bags packed with control issues (labeled “urgent”), overthinking (carry-on), and unresolved exes (gate-checked).

The heavier the baggage, the slower the trip.

🎯 Travel Lighter

Not everything you carry belongs to you.

Some were packed for you by others—parents, partners, fear, shame.

Some are just habits.

The goal isn’t to be baggage-free.

It’s to know what’s in there—and whether it still needs to come along.

TAKEAWAY

You don’t need to unpack everything at the gate.

But you should at least know what you’re carrying…

And whether it’s still worth the weight.