I wrote about this years ago.
Today, I understand it differently.


There are moments that interrupt your life long enough for truth to get in.

For me, it was a car accident on a cold November morning.

Not dramatic enough to change everything.
But enough to pause me.

Enough to make me feel something I had been avoiding.

What stayed with me wasn’t the impact.

It was the song that had been playing just before it happened—
The Strength to Let Go by Switchfoot.

At the time, I didn’t realise why it mattered.

I do now.

What That Moment Interrupted

Looking back, that moment didn’t come out of nowhere.

It interrupted something that had already begun.

For a while, I had been living with things I knew—quietly, deeply—I needed to release.

Not suddenly.
Not dramatically.
Just… there.

Relationships that drained me.
Spaces where I was tolerated but not truly seen.
Versions of myself that existed to maintain connection… not to honour truth.

Nothing had broken.

But something wasn’t right.

And I knew it.

The Truth I Was Avoiding

The hardest thing to admit is not that something is wrong.

It’s that you already know…

And you’re choosing to stay anyway.

I stayed because I was afraid.

Not just of losing people—but of what losing them would mean.

That I had tried and it didn’t work.
That I wasn’t enough to make it work.
That I had invested time, love, energy… and it still didn’t become what I hoped.

So I held on.

Not out of alignment.

But out of fear.

When the Lyrics Became Truth

For months, that song had been playing in the background of my life.

But that morning… something shifted.

The chorus caught me.

And for the first time, I actually heard it.

Not as music.

As truth.

It didn’t feel like a dramatic realisation.
It felt quiet. Certain. Unavoidable.

There were things in my life I needed to let go of.

Not because I didn’t care.
Not because I hadn’t tried.
But because there was nothing left to hold onto that wasn’t costing me.

And once I heard that… I couldn’t unhear it.

What Holding On Was Costing Me

There is a version of self-abandonment that looks like loyalty.

It looks like:

  • understanding people who do not understand you
  • staying patient when you are being depleted
  • giving more so something doesn’t fall apart

From the outside, it looks like strength.

But inside, it feels like erosion.

And I was living in that space for longer than I wanted to admit.

The Moment I Stopped Pretending

Clarity didn’t arrive all at once.

It came in moments I could no longer ignore.

Like the evening I had a flat tyre after an already exhausting day… and the person who had been urgently trying to reach me all day finally got through—only to tell me they were on holiday.

No concern.
No curiosity.
No care.

And something in me settled.

Not anger.
Not even disappointment.

Just clarity.

They had always been this way.

I had just chosen not to see it.

The Hardest Thing to Release

Some things I let go of quickly.

Others… took time.

There was one relationship in particular that I had poured years into. I had adjusted, compromised, hoped—convinced myself that if I just tried a little harder, it would become what I believed it could be.

But the truth was simple:

You cannot force alignment.
You cannot earn mutuality.
You cannot love someone into choosing you.

And the hardest part wasn’t letting go.

It was accepting that letting go didn’t mean I failed.

It meant I finally chose myself.

What I Learned About Fear

It wasn’t until later that I understood what had really been keeping me there.

It wasn’t just attachment.

It was fear.

Fear of failure.
Fear of not being enough.
Fear of not being chosen.

And underneath that… control.

The belief that if I just held on long enough, tried hard enough, understood deeply enough—

I could change the outcome.

But control has a cost.

Because the tighter you grip something that isn’t yours…
the more it breaks you.

Grieving the Right Decision

I used to think that making the right decision would feel peaceful.

But sometimes, the right decision feels like grief.

I mourned what I let go of.
I questioned myself.
I felt the absence deeply.

But I didn’t go back.

And that was new.

“I Had Wings All Along”

When I returned to that song weeks later, one line stayed with me:

“To think all of this time, I had wings that were ready to soar.”

And something in me shifted again.

I realised:

I wasn’t stuck.

I was holding on to things that were keeping me from moving.

What Letting Go Made Space For

Letting go didn’t just remove things from my life.

It created space.

Space to hear myself.
Space to feel what was true.
Space to reconnect with parts of me I had set aside.

That was where my writing deepened.

Not as something I forced.

But as something that came from truth.

Where I Am Now

I find myself in a different season now.

Quieter.
More intentional.
More honest about what feels aligned—and what doesn’t.

Life looks different to what I am used to.

And once again, I am being asked to let go.

Not out of urgency.

But out of truth.

What Strength Really Looks Like

I used to think strength was holding on.

Now I understand:

Strength is release.
Strength is self-loyalty.
Strength is choosing peace over persistence.
Strength is trusting that what is meant for you does not require you to abandon yourself to keep it.

If You Are in a Season of Letting Go

You probably already know.

That quiet feeling.
That hesitation.
That exhaustion you can’t explain.

That is your answer.

You don’t need permission.
You don’t need closure.
You don’t need it to make sense to anyone else.

You just need to be honest.


Let’s Talk

What are you still holding onto… that you know you’ve outgrown?

Or what have you already let go of that changed you?


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