Letting Go

Learning to release the things I don't need

Many times in my life I have struggled with letting go.  Sometimes it is letting go of physical objects.  Sometimes it has been a relationship. Lately, it has been letting go of control.  I am an admitted control freak.  It is not something I am proud of.  It has just been a huge part of my personality for as long as I can remember.

 

Wanting to control things is a sign of underlying fear.  When we try to control things or people, it is because we are afraid.  We may not even realize this.  Many of us are controlling and aren’t aware that we are even doing it.  We feel safe when we are in control of things.  It may be our schedule, it may be our environment, or it may even be the people in our life.

 

Lately, I have been trying to let go.  I have been letting go of the physical objects that I no longer need.  I have been letting go of relationships that I am unbalanced in.  And I have been (trying) to let go of the need to have control over every area of my life.  It has been hard.  But it had also been an eye-opening experience.

 

 I have learned that I was holding onto objects that reminded me of things that were actually not even good memories.  I have learned that some of my relationships in my life were one-sided.  Meaning, I was doing all of the giving and the other person was using me.  But, I have learned that I was allowing this relationship into my life, and allowing the behavior.  I have also learned that I don’t need to try and control every situation or every person in my life.  I am only responsible for me. 

 

Letting go is about understanding that there is a time for everything.  As we leave old things behind, we gain wisdom, maturity, and freedom.  As we give physical things away, we bless other people.  As we let go of relationships that are one-sided, we gain freedom from feeling obligated.  And when we let go of trying to control other people, we gain the wisdom of realizing that trying to control someone else, in the end, doesn’t benefit anyone. Letting go is a sign of maturity. For me personally, I am finally starting to understand that no matter how much I want to control things, it isn’t possible.  And if I want to let go, I need to let go of the fear behind why I wanted to hold onto it in the first place.

 

As much as I would prefer to have total control over everything, at the end of the day, I don’t anyway.  And through this process, probably the biggest lesson that I have learned is that I was creating a lot of unnecessary stress in my life by trying to control everything.