When Letting Go Becomes the Only Way Forward__

I held on too long.

To words that faded.

To hands that trembled.

To promises that never learned how to stay.

Some nights,

I whispered your name like a prayer.

Other nights,

I buried it beneath silence.

The world kept moving,

while I stood still —

a shadow clinging to what used to be sunlight.

I thought love meant holding tighter.

But sometimes love means opening your palms

and watching what was never yours

return to the wind.

I learned that letting go

is not weakness.

It is survival.

It is courage wrapped in quiet.

You can’t move forward

while staring at the ruins behind you.

You can’t bloom

while gripping the roots of what’s already gone.

So I took one small step.

Then another.

And another.

Until the ache turned into air.

Now, I walk lighter.

Not because I forgot,

but because I finally forgave myself

for staying too long.

Letting go was not the end.

It was the beginning

I never knew I needed.

***