Letting Go

My daughter and partner bump heads much of the time. I tried to figure out for years now what is so different about their petsonalities that causes this friction. He is very good to her and she will go to bat for him in a heartbeat should someone else attempt to speak an ill word against him. He has very high expectations of her and she will hurt his feelings in a drop of a dime. They get disappointed in each other very easily. Today, I thought outside of the box. It’s not what’s different about them; it’s what’s the same. They both hold on too tight and find it difficult to just let go.

Their journeys are nothing alike yet very similiar. They’ve both been hurt and disappointed by people they love. When I truly examine their hearts, I see duck tape instead of true mending. That one person in their life that was suppose to guide them and make them feel protected, are people they now yearn for their approval. This has developed a protection mode in their personalities. What neither understand is that holding on hurts more than letting go. The lightbulb went on when I realized how many times a day I say, “would you just let it go!”

I know many of you have been there. Whether it’s betrayal, abandonment, missing your life before illness, your job, finances, loss of relationships; your holding on to the memory of things already gone. I can gaurentee that holding on causes more damage inside of you than just letting on. The scars and bruises will never heal until you process this concept. You can only put so much duck tape on something broken before it gives way and every emotion burst out at once. Letting go is never easy. But, it takes more energy and effort to hold on. Where can you possibly go in your future if your grasp is completely tightened on your past?

There’s only one way to get the justice you seek from a past that hurt you. Let go.