10 years ago I went to Antarctica (don’t do it in a 1950’s Russian shipping vessel called The Antarctic Dream. It’s no dream. It’s a f*cking nightmare). While I was at the bottom of the Earth and truly off the grid, I wrote a note and a postcard to myself that simply said four words.
Believe
Trust
Let Go
Simple to write. Not so simple to embrace.
So difficult in fact that two weeks ago (over a decade later) I sent another postcard to myself from the bottom of the Grand Canyon that echoed those same four words.
It bothered me that I hadn’t mastered those things in my life - the biggest one being “Let Go” (no matter how hard Elsa tried to convince me.)
For the past decade, I have repeated those four words when I’m afraid, after I meditate (which is rare) and after yoga (and to say I do yoga often is a bit of a “stretch.” You’re welcome.)
After a recent breakup and some health issues (don’t worry. I’m okay), I knew I needed to shake things up. Kind of like my “Thelma and Louise” and “How Gelf Got her Groove Back” moment all rolled into one.
I wanted to really take on those three directives.
Believe. Trust. Let Go.
(BTL - so tempting to swap the last two for a BLT, but it just didn’t flow right.)
Anyway, I felt that if I were really going to make any kind of significant change, I needed to do three very important things.
Do it daily
Make it simple
Be accountable
That’s when I came up with the 30-Day Letting Go Challenge. Each day for the 30 days leading up to my birthday (December 26th. Yeah, it sucks. Check out my song “Jesus Steals My Thunder”), I am challenging myself to let go of one thing a day.
I don’t mean just material possessions. I’m talking about letting go of things like:
People on social media
Overthinking decisions
Perfectionism
Worrying about disappointing people
My famous Jewish good-byes (They’re the opposite of an Irish good-bye. Irish people leave and never say good-bye. Jews say good-bye and never leave. Welcome to my world.)
So here we go. I’m going to take the plunge, hopefully learn a lot along the way, start to exercise this muscle and not just get out of my comfort zone, but out of my own way.
Have a suggestion of something I should let go of? What are you afraid to let go of? Let me know in the comments.
And by the way, contrary to Elsa, the cold ALWAYS bothers me anyway… despite the fact that I went to Antarctica. :)