I watched a film over the weekend—one of those tender stories about love, loss, losing and finding yourself again.
There was a particular scene that lingered.
The lead character reconnects with a woman he once loved in high school. They reminisce. He asks if she ever made it to Paris, the city of her dreams.
She smiles, a little sad.
Tells him she bought a backpack—specifically chosen, with little pockets for everything she’d take on her journey. She placed it by her front door, ready to go. But life kept happening. A sick family member. A work emergency. The wrong season.
So the bag sat. Unused. Unmoved.
Eventually, she grew tired of seeing it—tired of being reminded of the thing she never did. So she packed it away at the back of a closet.
It’s still there.
She never saw Paris.
The Dreams We Bury
That moment sat with me.
How many of us have a proverbial backpack waiting by the door?
How often do we tuck our dreams into the back of a closet—not because we can’t chase them, but because the excuses are more comfortable than the unknown?
We say:
“I don’t have the time.”
“I have responsibilities.”
“I’m too old now.”
“I’m scared.”
“I missed my chance.”
And then… decades slip by.
The yearning is still there. But it’s twisted now—threaded with regret, steeped in what-ifs.
But What If It’s Not Too Late?
What if it was never about missed chances?
What if it’s just been about timing?
What if we stopped staring at the closed door of the past, and simply opened a new one?
What if the question became:
Why not now?
Filling Up So I Can Pour Out
What I’ve come to learn is this:
The more I move toward my dreams, the more I can give to others—not in money or material things, but in what truly matters.
Love.
Presence.
Wisdom.
Laughter.
Patience.
Grace.
When I fill my own cup, I have something meaningful to pour.
A Letter to My Younger Self
If I could go back, I’d whisper:
Live, my girl. Really live.
Follow the wild call of your own path.
Stumble, rise, dance barefoot in the small joys.
Don’t be afraid to fail. That’s how the soul finds her rhythm.
The Way Home
The longer you resist your own nature, the harder the return.
But even if you wander for years, the journey is never wasted.
Because once you find your way back—once you arrive in that sacred space where you truly belong—even the hard days feel like home.
“Don’t pack your dreams away. Dust them off. Wear them in.”
— Wild Soul Notes
Wild Soul Notes 