09/17/2026
A few weeks ago, someone stole my carry-on bag off a plane (yes, really—and no, I haven’t gotten it back).
What I expected to be a frustrating travel story turned into something much deeper.
If I’m honest, my first instinct wasn’t to feel what I was feeling. It was to find the meaning.
I immediately started asking myself, “Why is this happening for me?” I wanted to understand the lesson before I allowed myself to fully experience the anger, sadness, and frustration and shame of what had happened.
As someone who spends her days helping people connect the dots between emotions, physical symptoms, and life experiences, I know that meaning and healing matter. But this experience reminded me that finding meaning isn’t meant to invalidate our feelings or help us skip over them.
The breakthrough didn’t happen when I discovered my bag was gone.
It happened later when someone asked me how I was.
The tears came before the words.
And when the words finally came, they were:
“I’m so tired of carrying everything for everyone.”
Not just responsibilities, but expectations, emotions, and the pressure of being the strong one.
The bag was inconvenient to lose.
But the insight was invaluable.
Sometimes life reveals what we’re carrying long before we’re ready to put it down.
And sometimes the lesson isn’t just in what we’re being asked to release—it’s in allowing ourselves to feel the weight of carrying it in the first place.