In every moment, you get to choose
Discover more from Echo Returns
Because I believe in the importance of following your energy and not pushing things that don’t need to be pushed, I’ll be weaving in some “best of” posts over the next few weeks so I can make more space for rest and (internal) reflection. Finding the balance between self-care and self-indulgence has always been hard for me. I constantly wrestle with the question of “Am I honoring my energy and slowing down for the right reasons or am I making an excuse to slack off?”
If you missed Tuesday’s reflection and the article it came from, please go back and read it. Since I read Eva’s piece on Monday, I can’t stop thinking about it. Reading it felt like someone deeply understanding the things I had been feeling (but didn’t even know) and putting beautiful words to it. I found myself laughing, tearing up, saying “yes, oh my god, yes” throughout and at the end I felt this much-needed sense of permission to stop trying to act like things were normal. Things are not normal, and they haven’t been for a long time.
(Side note: I neglected to give credit where it is due in Tuesday’s reflection. Much love and gratitude to my friend Jill Ivey for sharing Eva’s post with me. She writes a wonderful newsletter called Puppies and Politics about, well, I’m sure you can guess.)
And now, on to my very first reflection of Echo Returns and one of the most liked. It has even more relevance today. I will say, though, in light of Eva’s post and *all the things* I’m getting more and more okay with letting go with wine and ice cream and refusing to participate, at least for a short time.
“Plans are made. Plans come apart. New delights or tragedies pop up in their place. And nothing human or divine will map out this life, this life that has been more painful than I could have imagined. More beautiful than I could have imagined.”
Kate Bowler, Everything Happens for a Reason
We want so badly to have control. To lay out a plan for our day, or year, or life, and have it go exactly as we designed it. But that control is simply an illusion. There are some things we could never plan or anticipate. Things that will throw our day or year or life off balance. Things that may forever alter our course.
The only thing we can do in moments like this is let go and understand that we don’t have control, knowing that the more we fight to hold tightly to our plans, the worse things will be.
Letting go isn’t about resigning yourself to the whims of the universe or those around you. It doesn’t mean you sit on the couch with a bottle of wine or tub of ice cream, refusing to participate. Letting go is about the expectations and attachments you have. It means taking the next best step, based on all the information you currently have, and then releasing your grip on what happens next. Then, taking the next best step after that.
The only thing you can control is your reaction. You can choose to make any situation big or small, light or heavy, hard or easy, painful or beautiful. In every moment, you get to choose.
Add your Echo:
What do you need to let go of, even if for only a short time?
(Reply or tap the heart to share your thoughts)