LET GO OF WHAT WEIGHS YOU DOWN

One day you will realize that you didn’t lose anything, that as painful as it might be right now it is what you needed. That it was always God trying to guide you to the person you were meant to be.

One time I heard Inky Johnson say, “ I believe everything happens for a reason, people change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can learn to appreciate them when they’re right, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” What a statement! In the process of learning to live a meaningful life, one of the hardest lessons to learn is letting go. In fact, I believe, is a lesson we never fully get to comprehend. I don’t think that after breaking up with your husband, boyfriend, or fiancé you will say “it’s ok, he cheated on me, but I know the pain I’m feeling right now is going to make me a better person” unless you are some weird species, you will react like most of us. I remember about three years ago going through my first heartbreak (is kind of late to suffer your first heartbreak at the age of 17 given that nowadays people get into relationships when they enter elementary.) but since I was busy playing basketball, I never really opened my heart for a relationship. Anyway, I can tell you those were the 3 most painful months of my entire life! It literally felt like I was losing a part of me, I thought she was going to be the girl I would marry; I thought I would never find somebody like her, and genuinely thought that unless our paths crossed in the future, I would never open my heart to somebody else. It never would’ve crossed my mind that years later, that experience was going to motivate me to embark on the journey of knowing myself and inspire me to help people live empowered. See, the suffering from yesterday was part of the first seeds planted in my heart for me to find my purpose, but there was no way for me to know that, and even if someone would’ve told me I wouldn’t have believed them. How many times has something similar happened to you? How many times do you find yourself struggling to accept the fact that you must let go? Letting go is one of the hardest (if not the hardest) processes in life. We want to hold on to that person, that place, that addiction, that comfort zone… for as long as we can, and the reason for this is that we are scared of the unknown. Is not that you can’t live without that person, is that you got so used to their presence that not having it is scary, so you rather hold on to them even when it hurts. Is not that you can’t stop hanging out with the group of friends you know is not good for you, is that letting them go means having to open yourself to new people or even having to stay lonely for a while, you don’t know how that looks like, so you rather stay with them. “We all have fear of the unknown, what one makes with that fear will make the difference in the world,” -Lillian Russel. God knows where we are supposed to go, and he has already drawn the path for us (Jeremiah 29:11) but we are the ones who decide if we want to keep following that path or if we want to stay stuck in what was meant to launch us to the next level. Picture it like this! Imagine that you read on a flyer that it has been proven that in one part of the Amazonas remains hidden the most precious gem ever seen. You got a little adventurist spirit in you, so you decide to buy a plane ticket to a city near the Amazonas. You put everything you think you will need in your backpack before you leave, and a couple of hours later you find yourself immersed in the Amazonas. You don’t know how long it will take you to find this gem, but one thing is for sure; you will find it! After a couple of weeks, you haven’t found the treasure yet, but you have gotten an awesome experience so far! You got to see new species, try new fruits, sleep in the wild, and basically experience a whole new different world! Around 3 o’clock you find yourself at a point where you must cross the Amazonas River from side to side. Thankfully there is a kayak next to a tree ready to help you accomplish the task. You struggle for a little because the river flow goes from North to South, and you were having to cross from East to West, but finally, you managed to make it to the other end. What would you have done without that kayak? Probably take yourself back home because swimming was not an option since there are a bunch of crocodiles in that river. You are so thankful for the kayak that you figured it would be a great idea to take it with you in case another river decides to pop up. Days go by and you keep carrying that kayak around, in fact, since you figured it was now an essential part of your equipment, you wrapped the 2 ropes you brought from home around it and threw the ropes’ end around your shoulder so it would be easier for you to pull it. After 2 weeks of pulling this kayak, you find yourself exhausted! Your walking seems to decrease because of the weight of the kayak, you are also having to use more strength than before so you get tired more easily, and your back hurts because of the position you keep to be able to pull the kayak. You choose to stop and think about what you are going to do. You got three options; you can keep the kayak and hope that because it once served you it will do it again. You can also get frustrated because you don’t know what to do and spend hours or even days trying to decide, or you can leave the kayak behind and trust that if another river shows up you will be able to figure out how to cross it. This is what Lillian Russel meant in her quote! Letting go is scary because it leads you to jump into the unknown, but the decision we make with that feeling of uncertainty is what will dictate the turnout of our life. The kayak represents all those things that we know we must let go of but we don’t want to! the Amazonas represents our lives and all the beautiful things that are meant to be discovered in our stay here on earth! and finally, the gem represents our dreams! Who are we wanting to become? What type of relationships do we want? The unique desires of our hearts that are meant to be accomplished. Some of us find ourselves choosing the first option in aspects of our lives, and I don’t want you to feel guilty because I am not here to judge you! See, I hold on to the person who I allowed to break my heart way longer than I was supposed to. I can relate to you friend! I know how hard it is to let go of something that gives us comfort, feels right, or makes us feel secure, but what if by letting go we allow our lives to change the page so we can start writing in a new one? Remember that your life is not the chapter of a book but the book itself! Some others we find ourselves in the second option. Making the decision to let go can be complicated and leads us to inaction, in addition, the truth is that nobody is going to force us to let go. It is our decision, and the time we take to make this decision equals the suffering caused by holding on. While we can’t help the pain caused by letting go, we for sure can avoid the suffering of holding on. So, you might not understand why you must let go and that’s ok! because we also need to let go of our need to understand everything! You must trust that when you let go, you are allowing God to put new things in your way, new people, and new dreams! Trust that on the other side of the unknown, there is a whole new world that is anxious to be discovered by you, that this new world will provide you with everything you need so you can have a great experience during your stay, and when the time comes to jump to the next one, make sure that you take with you all the memories Because letting go never meant forgetting! It just means accepting that is time for the new to come, but with our hearts thankful for the marks of the past.

Like always, let me remind you that the best way to live a meaningful life is to get to know the one who created you! So I encourage you to either keep or start a relationship with your father who is in heaven. It won’t be perfect but is the key to living a meaningful life.