You can't run away from your problems

Unresolved problems act like shadows. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, they will still be there with you. I thought that location mattered, that when you leave home you leave behind your issues. This trip has taught me that you cannot run away from your problems. They come with you no matter the location and lifestyle that you choose.
Delta allows two carry-ons and two checked bags for international flights. But each person brings along invisible baggage - history that cannot simply be measured or scanned by some machine. Sometimes these bags contain what we love about a person: quirks, idiosyncrasies, secrets. However, sometimes they hold worse, like pent up feelings of anger, resentment, regret, and depression. You can be halfway around the world from home and this baggage can still weigh you down. You can still dream about someone who you have not spoken to in months because you know that you want to talk to that person again.
These thoughts remind me of the ants in my suitcase (please pardon my poor metaphor) because unless I stop putting food in there, the ants will keep coming into my suitcase. Unless the sun stops shining, my shadow will follow me as I walk. Unless I can deal with my baggage, it will come along with me on all my journeys.
So what is the right path to take with all this baggage? Do we try to get rid of some of the invisible contents of the bags? And if so, how does one get rid of something one cannot see? OR do we try to find people who can appreciate and understand the contents within these bags - both the good and the bad? Isn't that the idea behind finding the "right one" and having unconditional love from family and friends?
I like to think the latter, but doesn't life get tiring carrying around all this invisible weight, waiting and hoping for the right person (or people) to show? Maybe I knew all along that my unresolved emotions would come with me to Thailand. Maybe that is precisely why I wanted to take the trip. The true journey will not be checking my baggage in at the airport, but rather finding out how to empty some of the contents of my other baggage while here. Although I know I cannot dump out all of its contents, I hope to return home with a little less weight to carry. Or maybe even some tool that will help me carry it. In other words, I do not hope to return home without a shadow, just simply return with a smaller one.

Plane from Toyko to Bangkok