At our age, it's naive to think that nobody has a past. It's naive for us to think that the people we love don't carry their own worries and insecurities. Newsflash -- we all have baggage. Grandma, the mail-man, the grocery store clerk -- they all have baggage. I bet even perfect, and totally gorgeous, Blake Lively has baggage. All of us carry some sort of emotional or mental weight with us, dragging us down, stopping us from trying new things, or meeting new people. Our luggage sits there, piling up, collecting dust, and haunting the back of our minds. It is human nature to have flaws, and to be insecure about them. It's healthy and normal to sometimes feel bad about yourself. Everyone has old boyfriends or girlfriends who have done them wrong. What isn't normal and healthy is to hold all of those things up inside of you; you don't need to carry around those insecurities. Set your bags down and take a deep breath. You are just like everyone else.

I have baggage. They're vintage suitcases, covered in bumper stickers, full of boyfriends who thought I wasn't skinny enough, or never really cared about who I was. They're full of backstabbers and high school rumors; little voices whispering I'll never amount to anything. It's not always easy to remind myself that things are different; I am constantly reminding myself that the people in my life now are nothing like the people who were in my life before. It's not easy, but it is so worth it. It is so worth to take the time to shake off the weight that has been holding me back. I am surprising myself daily with what I am accomplishing now that I've stopped letting the past hold me back. I have an amazing boyfriend and friends who would do anything for me. All because I stopped letting the people from the past decide my future. It's hard to watch people you care about struggle with their own baggage. I have close friends who stop themselves from being happy because they are still fighting with their past.

We spend a lot of time worrying about our future, if history is going to repeat itself, and if things will fall apart. We let past experiences stop us from having new ones. We shut people out, because we had our heart broken two years ago. We don't try out for the soccer team, because of the one time, in third grade gym class, a mean kid laughed at you. It's saddening to think that we are standing in the way of our own happiness.

Letting go is much easier said than done. I know this first-hand, but think of what you could accomplish if you did. Check your bags at the door and just live.