Illustration by Aamnah Arshad
Illustration by Aamnah Arshad

Letting go is an important part of everyone’s life. One has to let go of things, people, or even emotions they value in life, sometimes for the sake of their own peace and sometimes due to fate. Because if we keep on holding them, they will just hurt more and more with time.

It is part of the journey that involves letting loose the grip of emotions, fear, people or things that keeps you stuck or dependent on them.

It can be your first birthday gift which you had to let go because it got broken, or a toxic person or relationship which you had to let go before it destroyed you and your mental health. It can also be a fear or insecurity that has always pulled you down.

However, it is tough and requires a lot of courage and self-realisation to let go of things which you have taken care of your whole life, with your whole heart. Letting go of them can break your heart into thousand pieces, but sometimes it also saves you from the greater destruction of your soul.

You have to learn how to say no and to stop crossing rivers for people who will barely take a step for you. We should learn to make hard choices and believe in the greater plans of Allah that everything and every person comes in our life with a purpose. And when it’s achieved, they just vanish like they never existed. But always remember, the lesson we learn and implement it in our lives will always help us be a better and more mature version of ourselves.

The art of letting go is about organising the mess in our minds and accepting the reality, that is not to rely on our past or worry about the future — just take a backseat and trust the process of nature, and everything will start to fall in place.

One more thing that’s most important is to know that letting go is not giving up, it’s setting boundaries and to surrender the feeling or things that you have obsessive attachment with. But letting go also opens up new doors for changes and growth.

It is a testament of our resilience and how true are we to ourselves. It symbolises that we are ready to move forward and experience new things and new relationships in life.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 14, 2025

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