I thought life was a play,
with the script composed
for the role I was to inhabit.
Designated stage directions
were set for me to follow
for my life to work out seamlessly.
All that was required was for me to
hit my assigned marks:
education, career, marriage, children,
for the production to be a success.
But others refused to
perform their parts,
changing the scene,
or departing before the play was finished,
leaving me floundering
on the boards, alone.
It took time for me to realize
that life had always been improv:
unscripted, hard turns, unpredictable.
I never had control of the narrative,
which caused needless suffering
in the light of the pain that is a part of existing.
Until I let go of demanding that my life
followed a script was I truly free
to find joy in the unknowing.
It taught me that every moment
was saying “yes, and” to whatever entered my life.
Category: Letting Go
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Life’s Unscripted Journey
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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.
Beautiful Bittersweet Life Poems 