Unpacking More Than Boxes

Finding Freedom Beyond the Noise of the U.S.

Hey Gurlfriend,

Back in Panama, my soul feels free. Something is different; no demands to hurry or prove your worth or citizenship. As I unpack, I’m not just opening boxes. I’m unwrapping peace, calmness. I’m sorting through what I’ve carried from the U.S. as I begin a new life on my terms.

Saturday morning, I attended a brunch, where I sat across from a beautiful woman who had given thirty-one years as a civil servant in the U.S. government. Loyal. Brilliant. Tireless.

Until the day she was “restructured” right out of her career. Like 400,000 other Black women, she found herself pushed out, not because she wasn’t performing, but because the system never intended for her to succeed.

Over breakfast, we laughed, and every topic from current events to the best braiders in Panama. When I asked, Why the move. She said, “I decided no one else would own my future again.” Dang.

Again and again, the same refrain echoed at that table from other African Americans escaping the toxicity. The exhaustion of fighting to belong in a place that long decided our success, our comfort was not wanted.

There’s something sacred in choosing yourself, stepping away from the uncertainty to the certainty of calmness.

So here’s your invitation: if you’ve been craving a breather — a moment to imagine your next chapter — come to Panama for New Year’s Eve. Not to move, not yet.

Just to exhale. Let the air of freedom ring loud. Bring in the New Year without looking over your shoulder.