What does it mean to let go? Does it mean to abandon, to forget, to act like something never existed? Or does it mean to accept something so fully, To understand it so deeply, to believe in it so much, that you realize that its better off without you?
Letting go of the past is one thing. You cant abandon it and you may think you've forgotten it, but you haven't really. Why would one want to forget who one is, because ultimately, where you are, who you are, why you are, is entirely because of your past. The decisions you made, the decisions that were made for you, the people you met, the people you didn't, the risks you took, and the ones you deemed too risky. You've made your past, and through your past, you've made your present, and this present gives you the platform to build your future. There is no meaning to letting go of all of this, if you believe letting go is, just letting go. To truly let go of your past, to be rid of the weight it carries, the burden it places on your shoulders, the expectations that arise from it, so that you may have a present that is not merely an echo of the past, is to accept the past in its entirety. With no excuses, and no justifications, look back on what you've done, the mistakes you've made, but never regret them for a moment. There are no do-overs in life, and wishing there were is just a waste of time. Grasp your past and realize what is is you've done, the decisions you made out of emotion, or pride, and how they've shaped your life. Think how your life may have been different had you thought differently, but never dwell on what could have been, because that can never be. The sooner you accept your past with no reservations, and no regrets, then and only then have you let go of it.
Letting go of a person is incredibly more difficult than letting go of the past. For one, its not something of yours that you're giving away. Its someone else. Someone who means the world to you, because its only such people that you would want to let go off. I know that sounds paradoxical, but think of this. If it were someone who didn't mean much to you at all, and you said goodbye, then thats all there is to it. Sure you'd feel sad for a while perhaps, but the void of something that was there, that is no longer there wouldn't eat you up form within. You wouldn't flagellate yourself believing that finally I have let my ego get the better of me. Thats why letting go of a persons harder. When you let go of the past, you're satisfying your ego. In the process, yes you bruise it and batter it, when you take the blame for your mistakes and your decisions, but the ultimate purpose is to make yourself happy, or at least happier than you were. But to let go off a friend, you have to curb your ego. You have to stomach your pride. You accept that they are better off without you. Without you introducing doubts and uncertainties into their life, without you putting compulsions on them, and how they should be. To do that, takes a strong will, and true love towards the person you're letting go of.
Afterwards, when its all said and done, when the void within has slowly started to recover, when you get used to the phantom pain of something that was there but is no longer there, nor will ever be there again, you can only hope that the one you let go off, is truly happier, and that you have made the right choice. And then as you sit thinking back over the past, how you were, how you are now, and the future that should have been, but will now not be, you let go of that feeling as well.
But as with everything worth anything, easier said than done...
