Letting Go

Since my book was published, I've received notes and comments from so many parents, especially moms of addicts, along with grandparents raising their grandchildren because of their child's addiction. It's such a painful place to be; wanting to help your addict child yet not enable. Letting go was the most difficult but most essential lesson I learned. It's not just for people dealing with addicted family members and friends but for dealing with people and challenges in every day life. This piece says it all. The author is unknown.

To let go doesn't mean to stop caring; it means I can't do it for someone else...To let go is not to cut myself off...It's the realization that I can't control another...To let go is not to enable, but to allow learning from natural consequences. To let go is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands. To let go is not to try and change or blame another. I can only change myself. To let go is not to care for, but to care about. To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being. To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their own outcomes. To let go is not to be protective; it is to permit another to face reality. To let go is not to deny, but to accept. To let go is not to nag, scold, or argue, but to search out my own shortcomings and correct them. To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires, but to take each day as it comes and cherish the moment. To let go is not to criticize and regulate anyone, but to try to become what I dream I can be. To let go is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future. To let go is to fear less and love more.

After re-typing these words into my blog, I realize I still have a long way to go to master letting go. With my husband retiring on Friday and entering my daily space; I'd better master it quickly!