The Art of Letting Go

People view walking away from a problem as being cowardly, you didn’t have the courage to face the difficulty so you decided to runaway. Walking away isn’t the same as running away unfortunately it often gets substituted for it. When a person decides to walk away from a battle, he or she is seen as being weak, a loser who chose not to fight and instantly people lose respect for such a person but you have to understand that walking away isn’t the same as running away.

When you walk away, you voluntarily choose not to engage into a conflict whether you had your chances or not, you’ve just chosen a different path, one where you don’t engage further. Since the justification for such an action aren’t always abundantly clear and since its easy to just assume the person was running away that’s what people just go for.

For example: when you have a powerful man turning down a fight against a weaker man, he would just be considered walking away but when they are evenly matched, it might instead be seen as running away. So in most cases since people don’t want to be seen as losers they convince themselves they must fight it out and so it becomes very difficult to let go. Whether its an argument with a neighbor, a conflict with a stranger or an online disagreement, its very hard to let go because letting go comes with a perceived weakness and nobody wants to feel weak.

Why its so hard to let go

Letting go comes with so many negative emotions, even though it could be the right thing to do, because people don’t want to feel this negative emotions, they’ll rather hold on to that situation even when its not what they want. Depending on the circumstances, the emotions which come with letting go are; resentment, sadness, guilt, regret, anger, loneliness, doubt, fear etc. There are also some positive emotions which might come out of it; relief, freedom, empowerment, peace, clarity, self-respect etc.

It all comes down to the specifics of the situation, imagine you had to fight someone stronger than you and that was a fight you were certain to lose, walking away from it will certainly give you a lot of relief and peace but it will also come with some negative emotions like guilt and anger especially if this fight was public. You already know people will laugh at you and lose respect for you, no matter what you said you will always be looked at as to have ran away from a fight.

Its not just about physical confrontations, even in arguments at your job or in your projects, walking away always reflects poorly on your personality. Thats why its so hard to let go, people find it so difficult to deal with the negative emotions which come with walking away.

You are smart for walking away

Its nothing new the irrationality of man, right now you have people boxing each other for entertainment in things like UFC and boxing matches. Countless people have thrown away their entire lives over some misunderstanding in the streets and many crimes are done over some irrational behavior fueled by strong emotions. To be able to walk away takes a smart person, one who is able to understand the situation they are in and choose what is best for them, even in a situation where you are right, walking away could still be the right thing to do.

People are emotional creatures and so often times emotions take precedence over rationality which has led us countless times closer to disaster. Choosing to hold on to a situation might be gratifying in the short term but a smart person also considers the long term and what could be more advantageous overall, the moment only last a short while but the future is here for a long while.

What comes next

In your relationships, at your job, your life goals etc, its important to discern when you should be holding on to something or when its time to let go. Knowing when to leave a toxic friendship or a bad job, when to pivot from failing objectives or be persistent in your goals, when to abandon a conflict or keep fighting. These all take a lot of discernment in order to know what the right thing to do is at the end of the day and what comes next is; healing, growth and lessons learned. You come out of it stronger, wiser and much more determined than ever before because that experience would have enriched you instead of breaking your spirit.

Conclusion

Understand that there is a lot of power in persistence, it can bring so many good things to you much more than you can ever imagine, but that has to be balanced with the power of letting go, knowing when the right time has come to move on. Ultimately, it’s your discernment which will let you know what the right thing to do is.

Thanks for reading ☺️