This Is How You Let Go When You Are Madly In Love

By Nilesh Mondal

When you let go of love, do so gently, but with a firmness which resonates through the corridor of your heart. Like a ballerina making the curves, sliding her toes through the slippery surface, full of grace yet never afraid of falling. When you let go of love, remember the story of the man who would love a mermaid, and the mermaid who in love with this man from a strange land, chose to give up who she was meant to be.

In this story, they don’t end up together. In this story, she realises land isn’t her home, that the air here chokes her with every breath she takes, and nothing the man does can fill the void in her soul which could only be filled with songs the ocean made. For his part, the man realised he couldn’t hold onto his lover too. That she was part water and part magic, all of which slips through human fingers too fast for comfort. So they said goodbye, even if it drove them mad, they said to each other, “here’s something that wasn’t meant to be, and two lovers who realised this before it was too late”.

That’s how you need to let go: slowly but surely. Start with thinking of them less and less every day, even if they threaten to be the only thought on the blankness of your mind.

Indulge in art. Revel in music. Enjoy the company of friends. Don’t go looking for a rebound who looks just like them, who remind you of them so much, that you cry out their names in the middle of making love.

Remind yourself of the fights you had, of the reason why it all fell apart. Tell yourself, those problems still persist, even if you try again, even if you try anew. Some people don’t stay, no matter how earth shatteringly beautiful you feel when you’re with them. They’re like the waves which come and leave and when they come back again they are changed and strangers and you don’t recognise them even if you taste them of your tongue and splutter at their taste. Accept this unfamiliarity. Let them cleanse you, but not make you feel tainted all over again with memories of what had been.

Imagine being the sailor, whose earth was 75 percent ocean. Imagine looking at the waves and how they dance and remembering the time they danced for him. Imagine leaving it all behind, for his sake, as well as the sake of the woman now turning blurry in his memories.

If he can, so can you.