Letting Go, Finding Freedom

“Letting go is what keeps you alive.” Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, from “When Living on a Tiny Island.”

I squeezed my hands so tight that my knuckles turned white,
leaving red moon crescents imprinted on my palms.
Hoping that I could stop time,
and everything that lay ahead of me.
How foolish to think that I had so much power.
And yet, that was my habit,
the insanity that I had always employed
with no success.
It took time to release my death grip,
learning from the wisdom of others
that the only influence that I possessed
was over my own behaviors and thoughts.
Frankly, my brain can still be
the most dangerous neighborhood to visit.
When I slowly let go of that which I couldn’t control,
my body began to relax, and I could breathe again.
I learned that love was holding people in my heart,
no matter what our relationship was.
Giving them the dignity to follow their own path
freed me to follow mine.