Panniers. Marvellous invention.
Can't think why I've left it until now to invest in them for my trusty steed (no. 3, having had two bicycles stolen this year)...
They are designed to make life easier. Funny that. Rather than carrying a load on my back which is both uncomfortable, and inconvenient, causing one to arrive at one's destination possibly rather less serene than one might otherwise, not to mention risking life and limb with perilous blindspots, I can now neatly stow whatever I choose to bring with me in transit, arriving without having tested my antiperspirant and patience.
I tend to work with metaphors a lot, and wonder earlier whether there is one here: I often explore the possible utility and possible benefits of unpacking and then repacking baggage with clients. We are, it seems, vulnerable to hoarding, and not just in the material sense. We tend to carry far more around with us than we need or, if we stop to think about it, want. Why?
For the most part, we do so because life feels too short to stop and review what it is that we've picked up along the way. Things that aren't ours, that we didn't want, and probably never will, simply get stuck in the 'backpack' squashed down, and compacted by yet more life experience, and the mementos we collect along the way. Stopping to review the often heavy and bursting at the seams carrier, is a daunting task that we find good excuses to put off, or avoid completely. Before we know it, we are laden down and struggling - 'carrying the world on our shoulders'.
Oftentimes, one of the primary tasks of therapy is, I think, to explore the contents of our backpacks. The challenge is making the time, and finding a safe space in which to do this. Just like attics, our minds and bodies can become repositories for things we haven't looked at in a while, if ever. Like those cardboard boxes we intend to go through 'on a rainy day', in there will be painful memories, resentments, guilt and shame for amends not yet made, and quite possibly a whole lot of stuff we've been given that we never asked for. Our parents' and family's keepsakes, and unprocessed history.
Sometimes, the only thing to do is to have a clear out - emptying the contents onto the floor, in order firstly to see what we are carrying, before judiciously choosing whether we wish to carry it further. There will be things we need, things we think we may need, and may hold on to for longer, things we are not yet ready to dispose of, and things we cannot believe we have brought this far along the journey.
Just like the retrospectively obvious and seemingly wise investment I recently made, to upgrade my bike, and improve my life, the action can only follow a decision which is made only when we are ready...
"Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough."
Charles Dudley Warner (Author, 1829-1900)
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