We all carry things with us – old stories, past mistakes, expectations and pain. Sometimes, we don’t even realize the weight we’ve been holding until we feel exhausted, stuck or overwhelmed. But hear me out… what if you set it down? What if you gave yourself permission to release what no longer serves you?
Letting go isn’t about forgetting or ignoring what we’ve been through. I know it can feel like disregarding something important, but letting go doesn’t mean it didn’t matter. Letting go is about acknowledging it, learning from it and then choosing to move forward without carrying the extra weight.
To be honest, I don’t know when or why we were taught to never release our pains and worries. It seems counterproductive. On a planet of eight billion people, all making mistakes minute by minute, why do we feel the need to carry everything like a badge of shame? If we can offer our loved ones grace and understanding, why is it so hard to extend the same kindness to ourselves?
Personally, I have always struggled letting go of guilt. As a child, I rarely got in trouble- I hated the feeling of disappointing anyone. Even as an adult, I still carry that fear. My guilt comes in many forms: disappointing my parents by not living as they hoped, believing in things they don’t understand, and hurting people in my past without meaning to. One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn is that guilt doesn’t serve as a debt to be repaid- it only holds us hostage.
For three years I was stuck in a cycle with someone I cared about deeply. After I hurt him, he never let me forget it. Whether intentional or not, I found myself constantly trying to prove I was sorry, always hoping to earn back something that could never be resorted. Even now, I sometimes carry that guilt into my current relationships, overanalyzing everything I do as if I must prove I’m worthy of love. The truth is, I don’t have to carry that weight anymore– and neither do you.
Many burdens come from narratives we repeat in our minds, whether we wrote them ourselves or they were given to us by others. Ask yourself: Is this story true? Is it helping me or holding me back? Often, we find that we’ve outgrown the version of ourselves who first believed it.
Letting go is an active choice, and sometimes it helps to symbolize it with an action. Here are a few practices you can try:
♡ Writing down what you’re releasing and burning/ tearing the paper
♡ Breathing exercises or meditation focused on release
♡ Simply saying, “I release this. I no longer need to carry it.”
♡ Engage in yoga or movement to free stored energy from your body
♡ Create a space for a controlled tantrum or physically releasing pent-up emotions
As Jack Kornfield wisely wrote in After the Ecstasy, the Laundry:
“Inner droppings of burdens were not going to happen all in one piece, but again and again. I simply dropped the burden of my judgment, of my fear, of distrust of myself, of tightness of body and mind.
At some point I discovered how automatically tightness and grasping would come and with that realization, I started letting go. Opening to an appreciation of life, finding an ease. Seeing this was a confirmation of something I already knew. I become less serious, less concerned about myself, less ambitious. My kindness started to deepen.”
Letting go isn’t about erasing the past- it’s about giving yourself the grace to be a human. Many spiritual traditions- Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Sikhism, Indigenous teachings, Stoicism, and Esoteric traditions- center around the idea that being human means learning, growing and evolving.
I challenge you to let go of your battles. Take a moment to breathe deeply. Allow your body to relax and your heart to soften. Open yourself to whatever you experience without resisting or hiding from it.
Another favorite quote of mine from Jack Kornfield:
“In the end, just three things matter: how well we have lived, how well we have loved, how well we have learned to let go.”
You are not meant to live weighed down. You are meant to live free. It’s safe to put down what you’re carrying. It’s safe to breathe. It’s safe to move forward.
You’re not alone in your journey.
You’re strong. You’re resilient. You’re capable.
Thank you all for joining me and being here. I’d love to hear your thoughts- what burdens are you ready to set down? Share in the comments or reach out.
Blessings!
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