What Happens if You Let it Go?
Witten By : Grace Weidenhamer
If you find yourself in the state of life where your motto is, “I’m still figuring it out,” then you may also find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the process of ‘figuring it out’.
There’s a strange conflict between being strategic, planning, and taking action, versus trusting that things will work out. Weirdly enough, I find that the most amazing and life changing things happen when I least expect them.
In my experience, when I’m not actively looking for an opportunity, they seem to fall in my lap. When I was looking to transfer colleges, the school that wasn’t initially on my radar became my no-brainer choice. When I wasn’t searching for a relationship, I met my boyfriend of four years. When I took a break from applying for jobs after college, a great opportunity appeared out of nowhere.
The thing about all these life-changing moments is that they were easy. They didn’t require much thought. I didn’t make a pro/con list of whether or not to go out with my boyfriend. I didn’t second guess my decision to transfer schools. When I was offered a job that I didn’t go out and find myself, I simply said yes.
I think a lot of us have decision paralysis - stuck in a limbo between choices because we have so many in front of us. There is so much self -improvement content being fed to us that it makes me wonder if it will ever be enough? Will we ever be satisfied or will we always be searching for the next best thing - the next best version of ourselves?
It’s almost ironic that the things that change us the most, require the least amount of work (or at least less mental struggle). I think the struggle lies in fighting between having control and having freedom. Sure, we all want to think we have total control of our lives, but it’s also kind of freeing knowing you don’t have to dedicate every waking moment to strategizing, conceptualizing, or streamlining your life.
Really, the only way to know for sure is to test it out. Take a few weeks to let go of anything you’ve been worrying about or a decision you’ve been mulling over. Release the need to control the situation and trust that whatever happens will be for your best interest. Then, forget about it! Stop forcing an answer and let the answer come to you. See what happens. It might just change your life.