Sometimes, one of the most difficult things in the world is letting things go.
This could mean letting go of sadness, letting go of a situation that’s out of your control, letting go of feelings of loss, or even letting go of something good because it’s just either not right or not possible to hold onto it anymore.
When encountered with the idea of loss, we often balk at the negative emotions that arise within us.
We might feel sadness, regret, guilt, depression, or any number of other negative emotions associated with the need to let go.
And yet, trying to hold onto things that are simply beyond our reach can sometimes actually do a lot more damage.
This speaks to the 5 stages of grief, and how we must eventually come to accept that we can’t always hold on to everything that’s near and dear to us.
But how do you let go in such difficult circumstances?
How can you practice this ‘art’ when doing so just has the potential to be so unbearably painful?
Well, there’s really no easy answer.
But here are some tips that may help to get you started.
1. Let Yourself Be Sad
Letting go of things that you can’t control is actually a crucial part of your emotional health and wellness.
And yes, it can be painful. But to a point, there’s nothing wrong with feeling pain.
See, life is a spectrum of different experiences.
We will, over the course of our lives, experience both great happiness and great sadness.
But most of the time, our experiences will fall somewhere in between these two extremes.
Yet, we will feel these extremes at different times.
And we must be ready to accept them, feel them, and process them when we do.
There’s nothing wrong with feeling (and being) sad.
Trying to repress it won’t help anything.
Your best bet is to let yourself feel whatever you need to feel.
Cry. Be angry. Allow yourself to feel hopeless and slighted for a while.
Then, after you’ve allowed yourself to process the emotion, you can slowly return to some sense of normalcy.
2. Don’t Hurry Through The Grieving Process
Letting things go can be painful.
It can also provoke feelings of intense loss.
This is, however, a normal part of the process.
When we experience negative feelings (like grief), we’re tempted to want to avoid them.
But the truth is that accepting them, and being willing to feel them, is actually better for us in the long term.
It’s also important not to rush through the grieving process.
Sometimes, it takes a long time to actually process such strong emotions.
And that’s ok.
It’s totally ok to give yourself time to do that.
In Conclusion
Hopefully, these tips have helped you to understand how you can succeed in the crucial process of letting go.
Letting go isn’t easy.
But if you follow these tips, you’ll be far more likely to process those feelings and get back to some sense of normalcy.
Things may never be the same.
But that’s ok.
Whether you’re letting go of something large or small, it pays to give yourself the time and space to grieve appropriately.
It really does matter.
