I read a statement this week that made me stop and think.
"when the rate of change inside an organization is slower
than the rate of change outside the organization, the end is in sight."
It made me realize that every new beginning is in part an ending of something else that has been familiar.
It made me realize that every part of life is about "letting go" of the way things are so that new beginings can take place.
Here are some examples that came to my mind this morning.
Taking a child home from the hospital and "letting go"of the security of hospital staff.
"Letting go" of your child as they head off to day care, pre-school, or the first day of school.
Allowing your child to get behind the wheel of the car for the first time....maybe that's not so easy to "let go."
Watching as your child goes off to college...."letting go"
Hearing those words, "who gives this woman to be married to this man?" "Letting go,"... sadness and joy mixed together.
One more...."letting go" of dreams, hopes and ambitions may be the toughest of all, but necessary.
And the list goes on.
It is intereting to me that as we "let go" there is One who never "lets go" of us. And that is what makes it possible to "let go."
What are you holding onto today that needs to be released?
1 comment:
Ahh... letting go...
As life is ever-changing, it is ever-necessary to let go of something old, or no longer useful, and replace it with something new and more utilitarian. I have always found "letting go" to be bitter-sweet. While the old is familiar, nostalgic, or comfortable, the new is inevitably unknown and therefore can bring anxiety or excitement.
The last almost 4 years post-accident have left us leaving so much comfort and familiar behind. But now we are comfortably coasting along with what we've coined as our "new normal."
I'd like to share with you how Emily Perl Kingsley describes it:
"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland."
(c. 1987)
On more trips than one, I've been sent to Holland! But I, too, have discovered that Holland can be a beautiful place and I am a more fulfilled, stronger, and enlightened person for the detour!
-Jodi
Post a Comment