The mere thought of ‘letting go’ of something or someone significant from your past seems daunting. The whole idea of letting go of things from the past that no longer holds relevance to your life sounds like an irrevocable and scary task. Then, why do we need to do it? Can’t we simply traverse life with the burdening past saved in a ‘safe compartment’ of our minds?
But, how ‘safe’ do you think that ‘compartment’ is? Do you really need to build such a compartment?
We hold onto many things from our past. We believe our past makes us who we are and consider it to be a permanent part of our lives. The past is what brought us here and that past is detachable. While we need to be grateful for a lot of aspects of our past, not all of it needs perpetual reverence. It is probably impossible to separate completely from our past but there are clearly things that need to be broken off.
When you hold onto certain elements of your past you are in a captive stage even though you believe you have safely stored that ‘past’ away from your conscience (which is impossible). Our past consists of good and bad memories. We all know that the bad ones need to be forgotten and with time it automatically vanishes. What we overlook are the good memories. Memories that we categorize as ‘good’ are relative to time. At the time of creation, those events, people or things were part of your life. It made you happy at that point of time. It does not mean that set of people continue to be in your life. Your life might have changed to an extent where relationships might have turned sour. Things might have not ended on a positive note. In such cases, holding onto those good memories is more damaging than enriching.You need to thus introspect. In the words of Marie Kondo, “Does it spark joy?” Do those memories, objects and people from your past bring joy when you think of them today? If it brings sadness and pain, then the answer is crystal clear. It is time to let go.
‘Letting go’ is not as easy as it sounds. It takes time and patience. There is no harm in waiting to heal. But, whenever you do, and whenever you are ready, you must let go. You must let go of feelings, objects, anything that might trigger you. You might have to physically let go of things too. Holding onto remnants of the past that you want to forget, will impede your progress. It will hold you back and your future will remain hazy. There is no space or ‘compartment’ safe enough to store those memories without affecting you. It will resurface. I reiterate. There is no harm in letting go. You are doing it to set yourself free and find peace within. Isn’t that the point of living? It’s a short life,anyways.
Let go. Live free. A new beginning always awaits …
