Letting Go

Letting go is hard.  It's something that we all acknowledge and mostly agree upon. Even as adults, it can be tricky to pry open our hands and let hopes, dreams and aspirations fall from them.

Truth be told, holding on to what no longer serves us or to what will never be realized means that we prolong our own suffering. It also means that we lack the ability to grab ahold of new opportunities and possibilities and there are ALWAYS new opportunities; even when we have our eyes averted and our hands full.

In the early months of this year, we had the honour of helping one of our kids let go of the past; let go of some pain and loosen his grasp on hope. The sounds odd, having him let go of hope rather than helping him learn how to reach for and cherish it but sometimes this too is necessary.

Now, months later, freed from the need to hold so tightly to something with remote possiblities, his energy is being used to discover new interests and fulfill his desire to become a better athlete and healthier human.

I'm proud of this kid for learning that letting go doesn't mean you don't care and don't hurt. Rather, it means you acknowledge the pain and the possibility then let go of the responsibility of hoping. It means that you care about your life and your responsibility to yourself so much that you stop getting angry and frustrated at how ineffective you can be in forcefully creating what you want. It means you start being responsible enough for yourself that you invest in becoming healthy and strong and happy.

It also means that if and when the tides of the universe turn and the thing that you have longed for comes to you, you are equipped with the knowledge that you never really needed it at all.  That you were worthy of having it but you are strong enough without it.  That you have the ability to both embrace it and walk away from it at the same time. In that moment, if it ever comes to him, he will be able to remember, this is the thing that I hoped for and this is the thing that I let go of and now, after all this time, I can choose to grab it.

It also means that if the universe chooses to remain silent for the rest of his days, he can live with the knowledge that he let go.  That he moved on, moved past and grew strong without it.

Live long and prosper young one.