Pack Light

“If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.”

This post is from our Notes from the Stratosphere series

January 5th, 2026 — We are officially in 2026. With the new year comes the familiar ritual: long lists of goals, resolutions, Pinterest visits, scrolls past soft launches of “new me,” plans and many minutes spent rebranding our lives. And even in the age of trending outs / in posts, I still don’t think we spend enough time asking one of the most important questions: what is weighing me down?

Not what do I want more of. Not what am I calling in to the new year.
But what am I still carrying that is making forward movement feel nearly impossible.

You may have thought about that one friend, or person that you need to drop. Or, that job that you can’t wait to quit. No, it’s not that. Most of the weight isn’t visible. It doesn’t immediately show up in the physical realm.

What I am talking about is the emotional baggage. The trauma. The resentment. The grief. The shame, oof. The old stories and identifies we never fully scratched out of our personal narrative. This is the kind of baggage that holds the weight that changes how you move through the world. The kind that could, just like your 15-pound overweight checked bag, stall your flight.

A great prophet once said….

“Bag lady, you gonna miss your bus, dragging all them bags like that.” — Erykah Badu.

The lyric isn’t for a good melody. It’s an honest warning. She’s basically saying: Alright now, keep trying to carry everything and you won’t make it where you’re trying to go.

I also think of a quote I have framed on my counter, right where I can’t avoid it. A message from muva Toni Morrison: “If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.” It’s the reminder we all need, but don’t often feel until we’re in a season of reflection. This mentor in many of our heads is also telling us that to achieve our dreams, actualize our “rebrands,” and reach our full potential, we have to release everything that holds us back.

The truth is, our baggage, as painful as it is, keeps us feeling secure.
It’s familiar. It gives us language and excuses for who we’ve been.
Letting it go means standing exposed with no backup from the stories that once protected us.

I’ve learned this fear is human, after listening to the stories of so many dreamers and doers I admire. Still, I won’t pretend to fully understand why we cling so tightly to what keeps us weighed down. I just know intimately that feeling that comes when I try to move forwards with a lightened load , or for the sake of a good metaphor, the feeling I get when I pack only a small carry on bag for a week plus trip. It’s a feeling of lightness but, always comes with nervousness and uncertainty.

Last year, I read The Gift of Imperfection by Brené Brown, and she echoed the same thing (I love when a message shows up to me in different mediums). In her book she explains how armor, or extra baggage in this case, once protected us but armor also blocks intimacy, creativity, and flight. She describes that, overtime armor stops being something you wear and becomes who you believe you are. Basically, our excess baggage becomes so apart of our identity that we feel we can’t fly without it.

Does this resonate? Are you still carrying parental wounds, childhood trauma, emotional abuse, teenage insecurities, past emotional or physical injuries? The kind of baggage that shows up as subconscious feelings of unworthiness, inadequacy, self-doubt, or fear of being seen. Oh, maybe it’s just me.

The new year doesn’t just ask that we increase what we’re carrying.
More than ever, I feel 2026 is begging us to travel lighter.

To do that, we have to look honestly at what we’re still hauling from past trips around the sun and ask: Is this still serving me? Has it ever? Or is it just familiar?

Not packing light is going to cost you. Literally and figuratively. But, unlike literal checked baggage, The fees of figurative over packed baggage are things like missed opportunities, delayed joy, late night anxiety, bouts of depression, visions that stay grounded because there’s no room to lift.

We can’t afford that.

Realistically, I know the hold that emotional baggage and conditioning have on us runs deeper than overnight resolutions or reading one of my letters.But awareness is a beginning. So consider this your invitation to choose what gets carried forward and what must be set down to truly take flight.

And if you want more reflections throughout the year on mental health, courage, and ambition, that’s why I created Don’t Be Shy. You’re always welcome there.

Wishing you the very best in this first quarter and beyond. You can do this. We can do this.

Take Flight,

“If you want to fly, you have to give up everything that weighs you down.”

Action — Un*packing Tips:

• A good, long, deep shower. Let this be ceremonial with the water washing away what you’re carrying and what you’re ready to set down.

• Externalize something. Take one thing that lives only inside you and move it outward to someone you trust. Speak up. Don’t let it stay trapped in your body.

• Create from it. Make music, write a script, choreograph a movement, sketch, or whatever. Tell the story of the pain or the baggage without polishing. It’s the most uncomfortable for most of us, but I believe this is the most therapeutic thing to do.

• Open the mouth gate. Cry, sing, laugh….or all three. So much of the release we need comes from letting sound move through us.

• Free-hand journaling with no prompts. Just a brain dump until your hand gets tired.

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