How I Found Strength From Letting Go of My Goals

I hold onto some things very tightly. Like white-knuckles-gritted-teeth-if-I-let-go-I-die kind of tightly.

It’s actually amazing I have the energy to do anything else. Anything but hold onto these things. I don’t believe I am alone in this.

I think the majority of us are probably walking down the street, teeth gritted, knuckles white, nails digging into our palms, holding on so painfully tight to things that were never ours to begin with.

*Photo Credit: eekim, Creative Commons

Do you know the things I’m talking about? They’re different for everyone. For me, most recently, it was training for a marathon. Around Christmas I decided to train for my first full marathon and was training away, counting my miles and trying to eat more whole foods, and figuring out how I could squeeze in a run during my lunch break when I got a cold that knocked me out for a week.

On top of that, I realized I was going to be out of the country for two weeks right before the race. I freaked out, as I do when I realize I’m no longer in control of a plan I have been plotting. I tried to think of ways to make up for the lost training when I was sick and tried to figure out if there would be treadmills at my hotels overseas.

I was spiraling and grasping for control when suddenly I whispered something very quietly to myself, something I don’t tell myself very often at all:

“You don’t have to do this.”

I hardly recognized my own voice at first. I am the one who obligates herself to her goals because they are simply hers and she has to. To prove it. Whatever it is.

But something about that simple statement clicked with me and released me and made me feel so free. “I don’t have to do this.” I kept saying it over and over. Those words felt like surrender and empowerment at the same time—something I didn’t know was possible.

So I let the marathon go for now. I may still do it, but only if it makes sense. The point is, I don’t have to do it.

Marathon training is a small example here. We hold onto more important things than that.

Heavier things that are more painful and difficult to release. You are holding them now as your read this.

But I’m beginning to wonder if the pain of holding onto things is painful because those things are not meant to be held. And maybe if those things are not meant to be held, they are meant to be released and we can whisper to our control-freak selves, “You don’t have to do this.”

Maybe letting go altogether is too much for you right now, but what if you loosened your grip? What would that look like? I think it’s worth a try.

How I Found Strength From Letting Go of My Goals is a post from: Storyline Blog