When You Realize Holding On Is Hurting More Than Letting Go

Rising author of This is How it Feels to Be Seen, Sophie Beatrice, writes to how liberating it can feel to finally let go.

Let it go. Let it all go. Accept it—all of it.

Identify what you’re holding onto. Where you’ve developed attachments. What needs to be released. What isn’t meant for you. What no longer serves you.

Then create distance, physically and emotionally. Remove yourself from the environment. Notice the tension in your body and lean into softness. Surrender control.

Let thoughts pass by. Allow emotions to come and go. Let things happen—don’t make them, don’t force them.

Letting go becomes easier when you stop trying. Stop thinking about it. Stop talking about it. Stop focusing on it. Stop letting it consume you. Stop trying to change it, to go back, or to fix it. Don’t dwell on it.

Realize there is nothing to hold onto and commit to letting go. Cleanse your thoughts. Shift your focus from letting go and losing something, to letting in and receiving something else.

Make space. Open your mind and heart, knowing that letting go is a gradual process. Understand that you have a choice. You can choose to move on. You have the power to let go.

You can decide to change—recognizing the need to free yourself from the pain that is hurting you. Release, and give yourself time to choose the present moment over all others. Resolve to move forward.

With time, as you learn to let go piece by piece, the hurt will lessen, and one day you’ll realize it doesn’t matter so much anymore.

For letting go is letting be.
Letting go is trusting the flow.
Letting go is setting yourself free.
Letting go is letting peace find you.