BAG Ladies

Ladies, this one is for you! I don’t know about you, but I love handbags! My husband always teases me about all of the handbags I own. One day, while sitting in my closet, I realized that most of the handbags I own have similar styles. They could be grouped into a few styles. While sitting there trying to figure out what to wear that day, my mind started to wander. I realized how closely my life mirrored the different bags I owned. Immediately, I thought about Erykah Badu’s song “Bag Lady”. If you haven’t heard it, get on over to YouTube as soon as you finish up here and check it out.

Bag lady, I sure was. What a metaphor for my life! First there is the typical clutch, only benefitting you. Sure, there’s room for your lip-gloss and cell, but that’s about it. You can’t “help a sister out” with the itty-bitty clutch purses I had. It reminded me of those moments when I got so caught up in minor issues and details. My husband could walk into the office to ask me something and I would have no clue as to what he said, because I was all about me at the moment. No room for anything else. How many times have you been a clutch purse in your business, tight with your time or information, not giving 100% of yourself to your business partners, your customers or the task at hand?

Next, there’s my vagabond/briefcase style bag. There are times when I am so organized I amaze myself. Everything is all color-coded and labeled. Anyone can just jump in anytime and know who’s on first and what’s up next. Sounds great, right? Not when you suffer from analysis paralysis. I often have to ask myself “What’s the use of being super organized if there is NO ACTION’. There is no sense in it.

Then comes the sassy Louis Vuitton bags. There was an aspect of my personality that looked fabulous on the outside but was full of crumbs and who knows what else on the inside. Transformation could not take place in my life until I cleaned up the clutter in my life. I could spend hours on and in one of these bags. As women, we strive so hard to master everything. We want to have loving families, successful careers, meaningful relationships. AND we want to look great while juggling all three. There’s no problem in that, but we must take time to clean up our life’s crumbs and pick up the pieces when necessary. Stuff happens. Things fall apart. We have to give ourselves room to just BE, without worrying so much about how things look. It IS what it IS, regardless of how it looks.

Way down in the back of the closet were my duffel bags. Even though they were in the bottom of the back of the closet, this summed up the majority of who I was personally and professionally. I realized I had this innate need to take on anything and everything thrown my way, good, bad or indifferent. I tended to at least try to fix everything and everybody. YIKES! (I’m so glad I cut that out). This is another very harsh reality for many women. We are so strong. Sometimes, our strength becomes a weakness in that we take on so many things until we end up crippling ourselves. Think about it. Haven’t you ever taken on one task too many and let something important to you fall by the wayside? You were duffel-bagging it. If you attempt to be a jack-of-all-trades, you will inevitably become a master of none. Dig deep down in that duffel bag, learn to delegate when you can, and be willing to give some of that junk back to the rightful owners, and whatever you do, don’t feel bad about it. Your dreams and goals will not come to fruition if they are dangling about in the background (or in the bottom of a duffel bag).

Once I had this epiphany, not only did I clean out my closet, I cleaned up my life. I traded in those metaphorical bags for new BAGs…Big Audacious Goals. Try it! You might like it.

Dream big, REALLY BIG. Think it, then ink it. Write down those goals. Place them somewhere where you will see them several times a day. Then place them somewhere completely random. The universe has a way of sending us just what we need, right when we need it. You may be having “one of those days”. Randomly, you could end up looking right in that indiscriminate place, where you had hidden one of those goals, only to find your mood completely transformed, shifted right back to where it should be…on your BAG, your big, audacious goal. 

So go for it, all of my fellow bag ladies. Clean out those bags and trade them in for some new ones… big, audacious goals that will transform your life, if you let them!

Best wishes,

Esh