3 Reasons Why Letting Go Can Be the Cherry On Top of Your Success

Lived Truths for Entrepreneurs During All Stages of Life

At a pivotal moment in my life (ahem, 1982), I watched the film Summer Lovers and thought my true path was to leave everything behind and move to Mykonos, Greece. Did I know Greek? Not at all, but my confidence in making it there, away from my current reality, was all too alluring. (Especially since I knew I could definitely take it easy, sunbathe and drink olive-filled martinis all day—I was made for that. Or so I thought…

To say I was confused is an understatement. I had zero idea of what I wanted to do after I threw the cap at my high school graduation. After repeating 4th grade three times due to moving back and forth between Colombia and the U.S., and then unexpectedly completing high school in the U.S., my vision for myself career-wise wasn’t looking too hot. In fact, I wasn’t looking at all. My only goal was to get graduation over with and move back to Colombia to spend time where I felt I really belonged.

On top of that, I can’t recall anyone ever sitting down with me and asking me, “Marcela, what is it that you want to do in life?”?

I felt lost. Because hindsight is 20/20, the journey to connecting the dots of my lived experiences to something bigger than myself proved a blurry one. I didn’t understand the truth of letting go and trusting that life would take you where you needed to go—yet.?

So, from someone who didn’t know what she wanted or what she was doing in her young adult years, let me invite you on a journey of my top three reasons why you shouldn’t worry about the direction you think your life is going (or isn’t!)—or your children’s lives for that matter. It’s an exercise in believing in yourself, and in the universe.?

Here’s my top reason (click on the link below to check out the full article!).

Reason #1: Life ebbs and flows—it isn’t always on an upward path. This is not only okay, it’s necessary for growth.?

Eleven schools in two different countries had the pleasure of calling me their student. Eleven. Graduating at age 19 (two years older than most of my classmates!), I didn’t have to be convinced of all the ways things could “go wrong”—I had been living these twists and turns for years. You have to admit, it takes a certain tenacity for someone to hop around like that and come out with a semblance of sanity.?

At my all-girls Catholic school in Bogotá, cattiness surprisingly didn’t oversurface. Instead, there was a supportive atmosphere full of community, friendship, and a deep sense of belonging. When visiting family in Charlotte one year, I was told we were staying there to finish school. I was devastated. Not only was I thrown into a full-time English environment where I knew nobody, my friendships I had worked hard to develop in Bogotá were swept under my feet.?

Thankfully, I moved back after graduation and proceeded to have a Disney-style endless summer with my friends. Though come Fall, everyone entered university and I was left to drive my dad’s Mustang through the streets of Bogotá—alone.? Tragic, I know, but the alternative was to sit at home and fantasize about stress-free Mykonos. Mykonos signified the freedom of not having to answer to anyone, specifically the career question I cringed at and made up answers for all the time.?

I needed to do something—anything—for myself. I had to take myself out of this rut called loneliness.?

Reminder: We, as humans, are more likely to focus, dwell, and let negative past experiences shape us. This is called the negativity bias in psychology, and when we acknowledge it, we can help change the narratives we tell ourselves about our lives. This makes it easier, in turn, for us to take action.?

For me, this looked like revisiting my time in high school in the U.S. I felt like my life had been taken away from me and that I had no friends, when in reality many people liked me, I had lots of friends, and I had some great times. I felt that my life in Bogotá was so much better, and although I prefer it, I had overlooked how I was growing, maturing and discovering myself in ways that my friends back home hadn’t had the opportunity to explore yet.?

The Making of Marcela, as I like to call it, looked different from my ideal version of what it was “supposed” to look like, but I ended up okay (let’s be real, amazing), even though it felt awful at the time. I had to learn to flow with the ebbs and lows of life.?

I’d love to learn about your own directions in life and how they changed from what you thought you wanted or expected to happen in the comments below! As always, if you want to read the full bits of wisdom I’ve thrown in here, click here —you never know, it just might shift things into perspective.?