Musings: Light Baggage Only Please!

Light Baggage Only Please! is the title of a book that I am slowly, but surely, working on for my daughter.  When she was about three years old I watched a program on Oprah about a woman who was dying of terminal cancer and was leaving video tapes for her infant daughter so that she could tell her all the things she would have wanted to tell her if she were still alive when the daughter was grown.  She talked about going on a first date, dreams she had for her, etc.  Let’s just say I didn’t have a tear left after watching that program – but it got me thinking.  What are some things I would want to tell my daughter – what hard-won wisdom would I want her to know?  What stories about my life would I want to share with her?  And how awful that would be if I wasn’t around to tell her all those things I have learned in my years on Earth.  Thus, the book idea was born.  And I named it Light Baggage Only Please! because I have found as I travelled through my teens, twenties, thirties and now into my forties that my baggage has become lighter.  I don’t feel the need to carry as much baggage with me as it really does weigh me down. It is a metaphor for traveling through life with only the necessities.  Such as:

Treat Others the Way You Would Want to Be Treated – such a simple life lesson but such an important way of looking at the world.

Expect the best out of others and that is usually what they will give you.  This was a lesson I learned while living abroad.  There was this really wonderful Japanese woman, Tomoko, who took me under her wing.  I was barely 22  years old and moved to Japan with two college friends to teach English as a Second Language (ESL). The adventure was all I could see at that age – never-mind that I only had a couple hundred dollars in my pocket, no job, and no place to live.  My two girlfriends did have a friend living there, Dave, who had set them up with a job and I ended up living with them while I figured it out.  I met Tomoko through Dave and she immediately took me under her wings.  We became dear friends and I grew to love her ability to expect the best out of others and see the light that each person has.  You have to remember I was a self-consumed 22 year old so she let a lot slide – but she always saw the good in people.  I took this with me when I moved back to the states and it is a life lesson that has helped me in life.

Don’t let your past determine your future.  I think most of us would like to leave behind some things from our past that just don’t work for us anymore.  Holding on to wrongs or situations that hurt you can only hurt you in the present if they are affecting the way you live your life.  If you find yourself dwelling in things from the past it leaves little room for living in the moment.  It is important to learn from your past but don’t let it determine how you want to live your life today.

Be Open.  Many of the things I that have come about in my life is because I have been open to new situations and different ways of thinking.  One of my favorite things to do is to talk with people who have interesting ways of looking at the world.  By being open to new ways of thinking, ideas, concepts allows you to grow in ways you can’t image. 

Believe in Yourself.  This is such an important life lesson that my parents instilled in me early on.  By believing you can and will go after your dreams is such an important way of being in the world.  Go after what you want in life because it goes by just too quickly and have faith that things will work themselves out the way they are suppose to.  You might not understand it at the time why something happens but over time you just might find the answers appear and you have a moment of “Oh! So glad that didn’t happen” – even though at the time you really wanted it to.  An example of this for me was when I was interviewing for jobs while in my senior year of college.  The only job I was interested in was Pharmaceutical Sales as I heard the money was good and you were able to travel.  I moved through the first rounds of interviews but got lost on the way to my second interview, showed up late and didn’t stop apologizing about being late the entire time.  Needless to say, I didn’t get the job. I am so thankful now that I didn’t because I decided after getting the news that I would live and travel abroad in Japan.  That experience changed me and made me a better person.  I don’t think working as a Pharmaceutical Sales Agent would have impacted me as much as my life abroad did. 

Have Fun.  Live your life as if you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  The other day my daughter was saying she is going to create a website called Courage.  I asked her what would it be about and she said – “you know, having fun, doing things with your friends, having play dates, going to the park.”  I told her yes, it does take courage to go out and really live your life.  Have fun doing it!  I love this quote by Sidonie Gabrielle Colette “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” 

Bit by bit I share my thoughts and lessons I have learned in Light Baggage Only Please! for my daughter and hope it is a book that we can enjoy together when she is old enough to understand it.   

Photo courtesy of Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theworkroom/7297130208/sizes/z/in/photostream/

 What are some important life-lessons you want to pass on to your children?