𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐨

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕.

Back when I was a little girl, I used to have this thought inside of my head. I would never stop whining and sulking when my parents would not buy me the toy I wanted. Hence, whenever we go to a shopping mall, I would never go home without holding a paper bag with toys inside of it. However, as I grow up, I realized that life doesn’t always go like that—where “I want it” is equal to “I get it.”

Life is not a straight and smooth path, but rather a path that has zig zags and rocks. There are dresses that no matter how much I want to wear or buy, I just can’t. There are places that no matter how much I want to explore, I just can’t. There are goals that no matter how much I work hard to achieve it, I just can’t.

In my nineteen years of existence, the art of letting go is the hardest thing that I learned. It is painful to see that there are things that no matter how much I want, I cannot get. It is distressful to realize that there are doors that no matter how hard I try to open, it won’t open. It is an excruciating pain that I could not fathom. The art of letting go was the hardest pill I had to swallow.

Why? While learning the art of letting go, my mind would always be clouded with this question.

Why can’t I just get what I want? Why is it that no matter how hard I try, things will not just work? Why are my efforts not enough? Why am I not deserving of the things that I want? Then after asking why, here comes the doubts. Maybe, I did not try hard. Maybe I did not give my best shot. Maybe, I was really meant to fail. Maybe, I wasn’t good enough.

Nevertheless, after years of learning the art of letting go, I realized that letting go is not solely letting things go. Letting go is the cousin of patience, hope, and faith. I learned that there are things that I have to let go, for now, because it is not yet the perfect time for me to have it. I discovered that there are doors that no matter how hard I try to open, they just don’t open, simply because these doors are not meant for me.

Letting go means I am making rooms for the things that are really for me. I used to focus on the things that I want and neglect the things that are meant for me. That is why I experienced countless heartbreaks and tears for these are the consequences of forcing things to happen and being too desperate to get the things that I want. I realized that forcing things to happen blocks the way of great things that could happen to me and being too desperate leads me to chasing the things that are not for me.

Letting go serves as an eye-opener. It enables me to see the things that I have right now and appreciate every bit of it. I used to exhaust myself in working for the things I want to have, to the extent that I fail to notice the wonderful things that I have and cherish the present. Also, letting go allows me to realize that there are things that I want which will only lead me to destruction. Sometimes, because of being too addicted to getting what we want, we fail to see the jeopardy it may bring to us. Learning the art of letting go taught me the beauty of waiting, accepting and trusting.

The art of letting go may be the hardest thing that I’ve mastered, but it is the worthiest life-lesson I learned. Mastering this art was a long and painful journey, but now that I learned its turns and curves, it helps me to keep going no matter how many times I fall. It helps me to not rush things up and trust the process, instead. It has emphasized that life is indeed full of surprises. There are things that we want and work for, then we end up not getting it, but there are things that we never dreamed of having, then eventually turns out better than the ones we wanted to have and later becomes the best thing we ever have.

Now that I am no longer a little girl, I let things go and go with the flow. If something is really meant for me, I don’t have to force things to happen because it will come to me smoothly; and if it asks me to let it go for now, then I would, because I know it will come and find me again. As I continue to walk on my journey, I would always carry with me the thought I got from the art of letting go.

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕.

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