To Let go could be the best thing you ever did. When we face adversities, stress, uncertainty, feelings of incapability and pressure, we often can’t perform the tasks at hand.
For a writer like me, this would be a major blockage of words. And I mean massive. The frustrating part is, the harder I try to come up with something worthwhile to write about, the less the words flow.
My brain simply freezes.
In this instance letting go of my words would be the best present I can give myself for this moment in time.
Say Goodbye to Perfectionism
Perfectionism is totally over rated - says a perfectionist. Well, at least I’m trying to let go of my ever present need to control all aspects of my life because I’m afraid I make a fool of myself.
Luckily I’m getting better at this every day. I have come to learn that it doesn’t matter if we come across as a total idiot to some people. What matters in life is our health and the people who love and care for us and those we love.
Releasing Over-Responsibility
Not everything has to be perfect. The beauty always lies in the eye of the beholder and no matter how much we think we did a fabulous job, it is for the others to decide. Feelings like duty, obligation and trying to be perfect at all times sound like great attributes.
But they are also boring. Who wants to be perfect anyway!
Accepting Powerlessness
Sometimes we just don’t know. We have no clue. No idea. At other times we can’t control what is happening right now. What is the point of getting upset about things we can’t change anyway?
Stop fretting and start living instead. Most people are way too serious about life in general. Who cares whether XYZ said this to ZXY. Will it change the way you breath, eat or live?
Move on. It really isn’t worth it.
Let Go of Uncontrollable’s and Unchangeable’s
If you can’t change it, forget about it. If you can’t fix it, throw it in the rubbish bin. If it doesn’t affect your life directly, stop worrying about it.
The world is too beautiful to live life worrying about things we can’t control and change.
Take more time to smell the flowers, walk more, laugh more, play more, eat better, love more, gaze at the stars more, embrace more - enjoy being you!
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Monika…I agree…sticking to the stereotypes and conventions does not always help..more you become engrossed and more you want to achieve perfectionism ,it might turn out to be more depressing when you don’t get results no matter what…instead just need to free up your mind sometimes and just let go of everything…
@ Abhijeet: yes, the old conventions. I think in that regard I’ve always been some kind of rebel. Being fitted into a mold has never been easy for me and I normally bolt when this happens.
How is your blog coming along? I look forward to the launch.
Yes you do have a zeal and certainly go by what you think is right…it was proved when you wrote that letter to your parents…more than anything else it demonstrated your passion towards your goal.
My blog is coming along well and hope to launch it in April first week…by the way I sent you an email a few days back…did you receive it?
@ Abhijeet: I guess I do. LOL. I just checked my inbox and don’t see anything there.
Could you please resend it? I’m sorry. Not sure what happened? I look forward to seeing you launch your blog….soon.
Monika - I think this is a perfect, simple idea.
Let go.
The one you always hear out in the blogosphere is “do it now”, and that is a good one, to be sure.
But I think “let go” is in many ways even more important.
Do it now, but more importantly, let go.
Thank you for a very simple and inspiring piece of writing today.
@ Brett: isn’t it just. We humans seem to over complicate everything we do (mind you, me included).
I’ve actually become very good at letting go st the much hated housework that would always loom in the back of my head when I was writing.
Now instead of fussing daily about cleaning this and that it is more so weekly. And you know what, I don’t fret about a little mess here and there anymore. For a woman this means true liberation.
@ Monika,
You know, that’s a great example! Now, we generally have a pretty clean house, but with four children you could imagine that sometimes things get a little untidy.
We used to struggle with it, but then I remembered that scene from the movie American Beauty when Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening are getting frisky on the couch. She notices he’s about to spill his beer on the couch, and stops him because it is a “$4000 couch upholstered in Italian silk”. To which he replies, “It’s just a couch!”
Indeed. It is just a couch. Randy Pausch (that fellow I blogged about with pancreatic cancer) talked about “stuff vs. people”.
The mess will still be there, when we are ready to clean it up.
Monika, you’ve been doing things in a Certain Way, haven’t you? Ha!
I gave up caring about what other people thought about what I did or didn’t do years ago when I became a hypnotherapist, but after reading those certain books in the last couple of months, has just hit home how futile it is to worry about things you can’t change. Yet so many people still do and it rules their lives.
You’re right to break out of that stifling, suffocating mould that most people simply cannot even see - it gives you the chance to live your life to the full and be truly happy!
Whoah, two comments two days running - I must have too much spare time on my hands lol…
Good on ya Monika!
@ Terry: LOL, having you come over here twice in two days is indeed a small wonder.
What happened to those 600 articles? Are you truly done with all of them?
I’m glad you are “bored” anyway, it’s nice to have you around. Thanks for the great words of encouragement. I can tell you that I really am - truly happy!
Monika,
I often say that there has only been one perfect person born and they hung Him on a cross. No Thanks!! I have no desire to be strung up there! LOL! Besides if I was perfect, that would mean I was done learning and how boring would THAT be??!!
I’d much rather be a “learning failure”
I think I just borrowed from Brett there a little…
Nice post today, and oh by the way, I love your new site! Very “shiny”
@ Wendy: love what you said then …
[Besides if I was perfect, that would mean I was done learning and how boring would THAT be??!!]
…great way to make being imperfect the “thing” to be. Isn’t it great to BE a learning failure? Like you, it makes me feel alive and kicking…
Thanks to Brett “learning failure ” has taken a new meaning.
I appreciate your feedback on my new site. I tell you, it took me about 5 bottles of polisher to get it so gleaming but it was worth the effort.
@ Wendi, I only recently heard that saying myself and I love it.
Wow, what can I say, seeing my name up in lights *blush*, only that it makes me feel good that through our interactions we are all better for it.
I like this a lot: “If you can’t change it, forget about it. If you can’t fix it, throw it in the rubbish bin. If it doesn’t affect your life directly, stop worrying about it.”
So very true. We humans waste a lot of time worrying what other people think about us, when really everyone else is only worried about what we think about them.
Rock on, Monika.
@ Amy: isn’t it ironic really. You said it spot on. We all worry about each other rather than just keeping the focus on what really matters.
It took me many years to stop this pattern of behavior but now I can honestly say I’m there. I stopped worrying about what others think.
It’s liberating.
Remember the saying “practice makes perfect”? I like Les Brown’s version better: “practice makes improvement”.
I also let go of being a perfectionist, inspite of my arguably Virgo perfectionist nature.
@ Dave: I like Les Brown’s stuff. That phrase is certainly a great challenge for many but so much fun once we take the plunge.
What, a virgo….oh my …you are brave indeed.
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Excellent post and tips! I have to remind myself daily to “let go” of a lot of things. And still I have problems doing so. Thanks for the reminder!
@ Hope: glad you liked them. I think it is in the nature of humans to keep holding on. Sometimes this is a good thing and at other times it isn’t.