It Will All Work Out: The Freedom of Letting Go

by Kevin Hart

Read that again: these monsters cannot eat when you’re living right. Why? Because they have no food. Their food is your attention. Their food is your trust. Their food is your unthinking obedience.

Just remember, you only fear what you don’t know.

I just wanted control. When I had it, I felt like I could breathe. Like everything was going to be okay. And when I didn’t have it, I was filled with anxiety, feeling like every little thing could go wrong.

Any form of control, at the end of the day, is really just protection.

In doing films, I realized that you don’t have to be the funniest person in the movie. You don’t have to get a laugh every time you’re on screen. You have to start caring about the project more than yourself and making your costars look good, even at the expense of you looking good.

Instead of belittling this person, I’ve empowered them.

Instead of belittling my own wife, I’m believing in her. And that’s love right there.

with the type of controller who avoids everything, we are our own harshest critic because we are so afraid of the judgment of others.

Paired with awareness, self-control allows you to correct yourself and improve.

Even if I fail, I’ll learn something that will help me do it better next time.”

Self-awareness plus self-control equals the best possible life you could ever hope for.

But we have so many misconceptions about what happiness is. One of the most common misconceptions is that happiness equals pleasure. Doing and having the things that make you feel nice and comfortable in the moment. The trouble with that is a lot of what makes you feel nice in the moment doesn’t add up to much in the bigger picture.

The more you chase comfort, the more unhappy you become. Because happiness isn’t about being comfortable; it’s about growing and improving. And by nature, growing is not comfortable.

That’s why we have the term “growing pains.” If you’re always trying to avoid discomfort and temporary pain, then you’re also probably avoiding the path that will lead to your greatest happiness.

Remember, happiness isn’t some finish line way off in the distance. It’s something you can experience with every step along the way and every play you make. Happiness is what happens not just every time

you conquer an obstacle but every time the obstacle temporarily conquers you, and you struggle to get back on your feet. It’s easy to be happy when things are going your way. But true success is still being happy when they’re not, knowing that eventually, you will prevail, because you’re the one writing the rules of this game.