What Are You Still Carrying?

One evening, I felt a dull ache in my left shoulder. The kind I brushed off thinking, “Maybe I slept wrong.” But it stayed.

Each day, the pain disappeared into the buzz of routine: emails, errands, conversations. I almost forgot about it. But like clockwork, as the sun dipped below the horizon and the room grew quiet… it returned. Subtle, but steady. I tried everything: a warm compress, painkillers, even the beloved “Moov” spray. But nothing really helped.

After about a month of enduring pain and nothing seemed to work out, one evening, exhausted and curious, I sat down. No music. No phone. Just me and the quiet. And I asked myself: “Why does it only hurt at night?” and “Why only my left shoulder?”

That’s when my eyes landed on it: my maroon purse. Always hanging by my left shoulder. Always full. Heavy, but familiar. I carried it everywhere.

I opened it without expectation. It was the usual mess: pens, receipts, lip balm, chocolate wrappers I meant to throw away. But deeper down, tucked into the side pocket, I found them: coins. Lots of coins. The kind you collect over months and forget about. They weren’t bad. They weren’t wrong. But they were heavy. And they had no reason to be there anymore.

I sat there cross-legged on the floor and began removing things. Sorting. Smiling. Letting go. The coins went into a cute little piggy bank. The junk went into the bin. Only the essentials made it back in. And just like that: my bag felt lighter.

And my shoulder? It stopped hurting. Not instantly. But within two or three days, I slept without pain. I woke up lighter. Clearer. Excited, even.

What are you carrying every day that might be quietly hurting you?

Not all burdens are loud. Sometimes it’s not coins in a purse: it’s thoughts in your mind, pressures on your chest, and expectations on your back. We don’t always know when they were placed there. Maybe someone handed them to you years ago:

"Be successful.”

“Look a certain way.”

“Don’t disappoint anyone.”

“Always stay strong.”

And we hold onto them: without questioning. But they pile up. And eventually, they start to show. Not just in your mind, but in your body too.

What I didn’t realise was how something so small and forgotten: like coins in a bag could slowly affect my body. That shoulder pain? It was a quiet whisper. And it made me think: What else do I carry that shows up like this? The stress we ignore: the overthinking, the guilt, the pressure to be “on” all the time doesn’t just live in our minds. It finds its way into our bodies too. In the tightness of our chest. The clenching of our jaw. The restless sleep. The feeling of waking up already tired. We carry so much, often silently until our bodies finally say, “enough.”

🌿 So here’s what I invite you to do:

Sit down. Breathe. And quietly ask yourself:

“What am I carrying that I no longer need?”

You don’t have to throw it all out at once. Just start with one thing. One belief. One expectation. One "should" that doesn’t feel true anymore.

Let go of what doesn’t belong to you. Create space for what does. Because when you carry only what’s essential: the things that matter to you, light you up, move you closer to your dreams then life starts to feel exciting again. ✨

You return to yourself. You wake up lighter.

And suddenly, you’re free to live the life that’s yours, not the one someone else imagined for you.