“Less luggage, more comfort, make travel a pleasure,” the slogan of the Indian railways till the early 1970s, can be seen as appropriate even to the journey called life. Letting go is a tough thing to do. Should you just let go of a breakup, a missed opportunity, or tragedies such as losing loved ones? It’s not easy to choose whether to hold on to the emotions that such moments represent or to let go. But if you keep holding on to all the hard moments, there will come a time when it gets too heavy for you. It may create a lot of baggage, and this may make it very difficult to enjoy the journey. By the time you reach the destination, you will find yourself exhausted.
When South African hostage Pierre Korkie was killed by a militant during a rescue operation in Yemen, his wife, Yolande, said with tearful dignity, “We choose to let it go”. Her grief may stay with her for a while, but she also understood that there is no point in holding on to anger and resentment. Bitterness could not bring back her husband; instead, it would weigh her heart down, making it very challenging for her to carry on with her life.
In the Bible, we read Paul appealing to a friend called Philemon to not hold on to the anger he felt for Onesimus, a man who had deceived him, and to instead accept him as a dear brother. So what Paul was recommending is that instead of being weighed down by the bitterness of the past, it’s best to let go and choose to love instead. As Sonia Ricotti, a renowned author and motivational speaker, said, “Accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be!”
