“Don’t settle because you’re afraid you won’t find something better. Don’t compromise because you don’t want to be alone. Give your perfect life, lover and job time and space to grow into our life. Don’t rush, don’t hurry. Take your time, be easy, have patience. Allow everything to come to you with your subtle guiding and intending. Your days of constant chasing with little reward are over. Everything you’ve ever wanted and more coming to you, you just have to let it in with love, receptivity and non-judgment. Letting it in is how you become it.”
– Jackson Kiddard
I have a hard time letting go. I really want to control everything, including time and outcomes, but funnily enough, I’m finding this impossible. (Shocking, right?) My life has been full of opportunities to learn this, and since I’m still getting new ones, I know I haven’t yet mastered the art of letting go.
I love the above quote by Jackson Kiddard. It has so many good bits of advice, but today, the messages of “don’t rush, don’t hurry” and “let it in” ring especially true to me.
Leaving a Job or Leaving a Relationship
I have played the role of the rat in the race and it didn’t suit me. However, it was familiar to me. I knew the basics of playing that corporate game. Leaving the corporate world and entering into entrepreneurial land, I am like a child exploring a brand new environment. It’s exciting and scary. And a part of me is grieving what I’ve left behind, even though I know deep inside that it wasn’t right for me.
I felt this way when I got a divorce, too. It’s a mixture of feelings, really: sad and grieving for the lost relationship and the loss of the dream, relief that the painful parts are over, and wonder and a little fear about what lies ahead. I never wanted to be a “divorcee” — I used to look down on people who had gotten divorces, as if they just didn’t try hard enough — but being faced with one, I realized it’s not as black and white as I had thought. I had to shift my perceptions and admit I was wrong. That’s never easy, but it is sometimes necessary to forge a new path.
Help Along the Way
Fortunately, as I head down this new path, I have many resources (as well as past experiences) to draw upon. I know I’m not alone: I have friends and mentors who are also entrepreneurs. I have many blessings from the tools I’ve learned from Martha Beck. And I have faith, a deep inside knowing that I will make it.
If you are facing a new path, or the ending of an old one, I encourage you to reach out, whether that’s to a coach, a friend, or someone who’s faced what you’re facing. You’re not alone, and you don’t have to do this alone. And what challenge isn’t better with a friend to help you along?