Warriors know if you want to get to the next level you have to drop the baggage...
There is a huge difference between your gear bag and your baggage. In 2016, Warriors, let's grab for our gear bags and leave the baggage behind. At a certain age we all wake up saddled with a shit load of baggage due to hurts, disappointments, abuse both inflicted upon us and that we have allowed, psychological pictures in our brains we play on a loop, loss, regret, depression, blah, blah, blah.... Any or all of that in a life is a weight destined to tether you to the ground and not allow you to rocket through the stratosphere your greatness deserves!
Let's drop the baggage, Warriors! Whatever the noose around your neck, let's cut it free. My big baggage is worry, regret, and procrastination. I worry about my girls' future. I regret the time I ever wasted being punitive with Warrior. I procrastinate important issues that I do not feel equipped to face and "horriblize" their outcomes so much I immobilize any rational movement for resolution compounding trouble I might face.
That's an honest assessment of my three oversized bags. Think for a minute of your one or three or seven... What can we do in this year to make a change that will set us all free to manifest our destiny already written in the book of our lives.
There was an alternate Hall Of Fame speech Warrior wrote about his gear bag. When he told me the concept I cried. Someday I hope there's the proper platform to deliver that gear bag speech because it was him strangely and unknowingly saying goodbye. What his gear bag speech taught me was it is important what we carry with us and the baggage we collect is wasted weight. Baggage is filled with would haves, could haves, should haves. It is a useless albatross we saddle ourselves with for life. A gear bag is filled with tools for productivity. It is ever evolving, never stagnant, and present in the moment rather than harnessed to the past. A gear bag believes in you, baggage is your accuser. If your gear bag is God then clearly baggage is the devil. Don't carry the devil...make that jackasshole walk!!
Warrior ALWAYS BELIEVED in his destiny. He never wavered. How impressive is that? I've wavered. Too often. I've questioned my gut, felt ill equipped, felt small, faced enormous fear. Warrior would have told me to toss that ALL! I felt so protected when he was alive because he would have truly fought for my life even if it meant putting his on the line. I would have done the same for him and the girls but now I am alone fending for myself. The flip side of this is I am discovering how important it is to pack my OWN gear bag rather than tote around the baggage.
Something clear to me is we are all born with specific tools that will provide us a life of passion. Too early in life well meaning parental figures talk us out of following what our spirit calls our truth. When Indy was no more than two and a half she clearly defined her life to me. She said,"One day I will goto New York City and I will be on stage dancing, and you will be in the audience crying, not because you are sad but because you are proud.". I said at that moment, "Indy would you like to take ballet and she said, "Yes, more than anything.". If I read that somewhere I would seriously call bullshit. I'd be like you disingenuous mother f'er, no way. I get it, be skeptical, but I swear on the name of my husband it happened. I never questioned Indy's desire to be a ballerina and it has propelled her to the position of knocking on the doors of ballet elites. She told me what she wanted and I believed in her with all my heart. From her baby days I helped her pack her gear bag for greatness with toe pads, pointe shoes, and satin ribbons.
Even if you did not have a parent who believed in your dream leave that with your baggage. I'm not telling you to abandon your reality I'm asking you to add your dream back into your work load! Whatever you saw for yourself long, long ago was a secret petition of your heart. You still have time to submit that petition!
Before I met Warrior I had two dreams. One was to be a writer, the other was to be a sports commentator. I loved baseball and college football so much I knew it inside and out. I was always blessed with many, many guy friends who loved my bluntness, sincerity, and ability to talk sports. I never tried to be "one of the guys", I was too feminine and think women are too freaking awesome, but I knew my voice was unique at the time and a girly girl could talk sports with the boys in a believable way and retain her femininity. I was very into fitness so I decided a smart route in was to audition for an ESPN show called body shaping. I thought if I could have an "in" there I could make a crossover. I made my audition tape and then wouldn't you know I met this wild haired giant of a man who turned my life upside down?
I put my dreams on a shelf for a bigger dream and that was a life with him. He didn't understand my love of sports and felt like instead of watching one should be playing or doing. I understood his point but I will not lie I missed my Oakland A's, my Stanford football and my ASU baseball. This past season I brought baseball back into our home. I explained it to the girls in detail and once my A's were out we cheered for the Mets. I needed a national league team to love and considering one of my very best friends is a mega fan they were an easy favorite. Watching the playoffs and especially the World Series was such a rush! It brought back to life in me an old love and reminded me, just like Indy, I had an idea about myself before somebody else told me no or I chose another path.
I use this as a tool in my gear bag. Wisdom is at the top of the stack. I know now I have to be selective in what I take with me in my bag and what I leave behind. This is a new era for us Warriors. Let's choose wisely what goes and what stays. Let's do, as Warrior told me in his "gear bag" speech, and pack our bags full of possibilities. Let's break generational curses that formed our baggage and carry our gear bag in a way that inspires those who follow. Let's be the mentors to the next generation so they may carry this not as baggage but as belief.
I believe there is an imprinting on our spirits with the destiny we are meant to fulfill. I believe there is sometimes a soft whisper, sometimes a wild scream that reminds us we were born to make a difference during our time here. I believe it is our responsibility to drop the baggage collected and bravely reach for the gear bag...ALWAYS!
xo👛Dana
