The Power of Letting It Go

Life can be stressful. Stress can take many forms, right? We have relationship stress, financial stress, work stress, and family stress. Stress that feels overwhelming, stress that produces panic, and stress that makes us depressed and anxious basically a hot mess.

When stress becomes unmanageable, anxiety increases and so do negative thought patterns. Pretty toxic, right? Well, yes, stress effects both physical and psychological health, and not in a good way. It can be uber depressing and overwhelming, but there are ways you can work through negative feelings in your life to reduce stress.

So what is the key to coping with these types of stressors and why doesn’t everyone live stress-free? Because they don’t apply a few principles to their daily lives that make life and any upcoming stressors more manageable.

Many people do not understand that they have the power to let go of stress and have had it all along. OK, so that’s a quote from Pinterest, but it is completely accurate. There is great power in letting go. Letting go of things outside of your control.

What does letting go look like?

What does letting go of things outside of your control look like? Letting go of other people’s perceptions, attitudes and behaviors. I can’t control how rude the cashier is at the store or whether my teenager/spouse or family member is irritable when they return from school/work. I can however let it go and not let it change my mood from positive to negative and essentially ruin my day.

When I step back from a situation and refuse, yes, I said REFUSE, to let it get to my inner happy place, then that will minimize any feelings of anxiety. It will take practice and perseverance to be able to not respond to whomever McGrouchy, but managing stress is like a battlefield and you are the Master Sergeant in your life. Oh lord, did I just use a Call of Duty reference (too many gamers in my life 😉 )? Well, you get the point. Master Sergeant would not give up in the battle and neither should you.

Letting go means stepping back, taking a few deep breaths, and realizing their bad behavior is outside of your control. We don’t know what they are thinking or what has occurred in their life to ruin their mood. You know we all have a story with problems, dark times and such. Shoot, we just don’t know what the other person is trying to ineffectively cope with.

Enter peace, love, and positivity. 😊

When we recognize that there is no control over others, we really will find peace. The love and positivity, well, that will be a work in progress, but it can occur, too. You must get to a point in which you say to yourself, this situation is not going to steal my peace because I do not have control over it. I do have control over my thoughts, reactions and responses that effect my mood, positively or negatively. Sometimes that means walking away from the person that is behaving badly, but it is all about recognizing that it’s nothing you did and it’s not your fault. It’s totally on them and then let it go.

If you practice letting go, I can assure you that you will feel a great freedom. When you catch yourself having anxious or negative thoughts about someone else’s bad behavior, remember to remind that wonderful brain of yours: nope, not today, I don’t have control over that person and that’s totally on them, and then let it go.

Now, if anyone is being emotionally abusive to you, I’m not saying let that go; but you do need to recognize they are the dysfunctional one and you may want to consider for your own mental health exiting that relationship or at the very least setting some healthy boundaries. No one, and I mean no one, should ever have to put up with others abusing them in any type of manner.