Know When to Let Go— When to Walk Away

Sometimes you have to just walk away. We all hate to fail, hate to give up, hate to give in. We love the challenge of life and want to keep on until whatever we are trying to “win” has been overcome, vanquished, beaten, won. But sometimes it just ain’t going to happen, and we need to learn to recognize those moments, learn how to philosophically shrug and walk away with our pride intact and our dignity high. Sometimes you really want to do something, but it is unrealistic. Instead of knocking yourself out, cultivate the art of knowing when to walk away, and you’ll find it a lot less stressful. If a relationship is coming to its end, instead of playing out long and complicated—and potentially hurtful—end games, learn the art of walking away. If it’s dead, leave it. This isn’t a Rule that should be in the relationship section—it’s here because it is for you, to protect you, to nurture you. This is nothing to do with “them” but all to do with you. If it’s dead, don’t go digging it up every five minutes to check if there’s a pulse. It’s dead; walk away. You may want to get even. Don’t get mad; walk away. This is much better than getting even because it shows you have risen above whatever it is that is driving you crazy. And there can be no better way of getting even than to ignore something so completely it can be left behind. Letting go and walking away means you are exercising control and good decision-making powers—you are making your choice rather than letting the situation control you I don’t want to be rude, but your problems—hey, my problems, too—won’t even warrant a footnote in the history of the universe. Walk away now and look back after ten years. I bet you’ll be hard pressed to even remember what it was all about. No, this isn’t a “time is the best healer” crusade, but putting space and time between you and your troubles does give you a wider view, a better perspective. And the way to do that is to walk away, put that space there. Time will put itself there, in time.