Heartbreaking.
Hard.
Unavoidable.
Healthy.
Healing.
(This post = my thoughts on this in 2015.)
My favorite of the four songs on my phone with this title:
I used to recognize myself; it's funny how reflections change.
When we're becoming something else, I think it's time to walk away...
Trying to push this problem up a hill when it's just too heavy to hold;
I think now's the time to let it slide.
So come on, let it go. Just let it be.
Why don't you be you, and I'll be me.
Everything that's wrong, leave it to the breeze.
Let the ashes fall; forget about me!
As usual, I can't find an image that perfectly fits the mental picture in my head here, but it's basically this, but with two people pushing, one on each side of the rock... and it gets heavier and harder as they try to climb uphill together, and they're both exhausted but working together to keep it all going. And the rock (obviously) is their relationship, and the hill is a difficult season... and eventually, one of them may give up and step to the side and walk away. Then the other has no choice but to let the weight of it all crush her OR to let it go and watch everything they had built together slide away... then take a deep breath and continue moving forward on her own, trusting that the steep hill (the painful season) won't last forever.
Not every time, but usually, I have been the second person in the relationship to choose to let it go. And you have a much higher chance of being crushed in that position. Acknowledging that the other person is not coming back and realizing that you cannot hold it all together on your own is critical. In situations where it has become one-sided and unhealthy and exhausting, choosing to let a key relationship go is one of the hardest and healthiest things a person can do. I have lived it and walked with others through it, and I would never make light of that pain or treat it casually...
Still, I appreciate the lines "leave it to the breeze" and "let the ashes fall." There, I picture Jean Valjean in Les Mis singing "I'll escape now from that world... Another story must begin!" with all the passion as he tears the yellow ticket connecting him to his own past, literally letting the pieces of it fall and be carried away by the breeze.
So letting go does not mean giving up, particularly when you've already been let go of. It's choosing forgiveness and choosing life with an extreme, deliberate fresh start... letting go of a major part of your past and pressing forward with ALL the resilience! ❤❤❤❤
No comments:
Post a Comment