12 Little Things You Should Know Before Letting Go
She rarely makes eye contact. Instead, she looks down at the ground. Because the ground is safer. Because unlike people, it expects nothing in return. The ground just accepts her for who she is.
As she sits at the bar next to me, she stares down at her vodka tonic, and then the ground, and then her vodka tonic. “Most people don’t get me,” she says. “They ask me questions like, ‘What’s your problem?’ or ‘Were you mistreated as a child?’ But I never respond. Because I don’t feel like explaining myself. And I don’t think they really care anyway.”
The music is getting loud and I can see that she needs to talk. I ask, “Want to get some fresh air?”
In the chilly night air, she tells me her story. As she speaks, her emotional gaze shifts from the ground, to my eyes, to the moonlit sky, to the ground, and back to my eyes again.
When she finishes, she says, “Well, now you know my story. You think I’m a freak, don’t you?”
“Place your right hand on your chest,” I tell her. She does. “Do you feel something?” I ask.
“Yeah, I feel my heartbeat.”
“Now, place both of your hands on your face and move them around slowly.” She does. “What do you feel now?” I ask.
“Well, I feel my eyes, my nose, my mouth . . . I feel my face.”
“That’s right,” I reply. “But unlike you, stories don’t have heartbeats, and they don’t have faces. Because stories are not alive . . . they’re not people. They’re just stories.”
She stares into my eyes for a long moment, smiles, and says, “Just stories we live through.”
“Yeah… and stories we learn from.”
Letting Go… and Moving Forward
Happiness is letting go of what you assume your life is supposed to be like right now, and sincerely appreciating it for everything that it is.
Too often old stories and worn out ideas hold us down in ways we don’t even realize. We need to practice letting them go. And this letting go has nothing to do with weakness, and everything to do with strength. It’s a process of gradually rewriting the script we’ve been reciting to ourselves for far too long. And that’s what this list is all about—identifying the negative stories in your head, seeing how they effect your daily behavior, and then letting go to make room for positive change.
Right now, it’s time to remind yourself…
1. The past can steal your present if you let it.
Just like that woman I met, you can spend hours, days, weeks, months, or even years overanalyzing a situation from the past, trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve or should’ve happened. Or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and walk out the door into the sunlight.2. Not everyone, and not everything, is meant to stay.
Some circumstances and people come into our lives just to strengthen us or teach us, so that we can move on without them.3. Happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them.
Imagine all the wondrous things your mind might embrace if it weren’t wrapped so tightly around your struggles. Because it’s not what the world takes away from you that counts, it’s what you do with what you have left.4. Sometimes you just need to do your best and surrender the rest.
Tell yourself, “I am doing the best I can with what I have in this moment. And that is all I can expect of anyone, including me.” Love yourself and be proud of everything you do, even your mistakes. Because even mistakes mean you’re trying.5. You are in control of only one person: yourself.
Letting go in your relationships doesn’t always mean that you don’t care about others anymore; it’s simply realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.6. What’s right for you may be wrong for others, and vice versa.
Think for yourself, and allow others the privilege of doing so too. You need to live your life your way—the way that’s right for you.7. Some people will refuse to accept you for who you are.
When you’re comfortable in your skin, not everyone will like you, and that’s OK. It’s always worth doing what’s right and being true to yourself.8. Relationships can only exist on a steady foundation of truth.
When you build relationships based on truth and authenticity, rather than masks, false perfection, and being phony, your relationships will heal, connect, and thrive.9. The world changes when you change.
Our thoughts and perceptions create our world. If you truly want to change your life, you must first change your mind.10. You can make decisions, or you can make excuses.
Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from what you can. Do what you can with what you have right now. Stop over thinking and start doing!11. It usually takes just a few negative remarks to kill a person’s dream.
Don’t kill people’s dreams with negative words, and don’t put up with those who do. Don’t let people interrupt you and tell you that you can’t do something. If you have a dream that you’re passionate about, you must protect it, and help others do the same.12. Sometimes walking away is the only way to win.
Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who have shown they don’t care. In other words, don’t define your intelligence by the number of arguments you have won, but by the number of times you have said, “This needless nonsense is not worth my time.”Now, it’s your turn…
In the NEW edition of 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently, Marc and I guide students through this process of letting go and stepping forward.
And of course, it’s far from easy. One of the hardest lessons in life involves the ability to change your perspective and let go—whether it’s guilt, anger, love or loss. The change is always tough—you fight to hold on and you fight to let go. But letting go from the inside out is oftentimes the healthiest path forward. It clears out toxic attachments and paves the way for you to make the most positive use of the present.
You’ve got to emotionally free yourself from some of the stories and ideas that once meant a lot to you, so you can move beyond them and the pain they bring you.
Honestly, that’s why Marc and I are publishing a brand new and updated volume of 1,000 Little Things, to be that daily reminder for anyone who’s struggling to change their situation for the better. It’s a compendium filled with our best advice on overcoming setbacks, letting go of what is holding us back, nurturing relationships, finding time for self-care and cultivating passion in order to achieve our important goals.