Sometimes we let go willingly, sometimes the world (or Boston) makes us let go. Here's to knowing when our energy is better spent making room for the new, instead of resisting the inevitable change. Happy new year Bec. Love you.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I felt like the entire back half of 2023, every moment of June onwards, was just life telling me (somewhat relentlessly) to let go. I thought about that so much in December - but I feel like I have just enough clarity to know that I need(ed) to let go, and I have no real idea what happens next. Are we done? Right now, I'm just holding on loosely, but my hope for this new year is to embrace whatever it is I'm making space for. It's unbelievably helpful to be reminded that this process is all just so fucking human.
I thought got car sick in Laurel Canyon last weekend and ended puking on Van Nuys near the In and Out Burger... but it followed me to Laguna and throttled me until I got on a plane on Jan 2. In other words, SAMESIES.
This reminds me of what I read today, someone describing cold plunging- the hard part isn’t the discomfort it’s the story of suffering you tell yourself in anticipation of the discomfort. That is the case for so many things I imagine. I guess that is what Stoics talk about to some extent.
So glad you’re feeling better and so hoping I have as effortless a time with the letting go as you have! (We are about 6 months out and I am definitely in that anticipatory grief stage! Plus perimenopause so yeah. Lots of tears.) Happy New Year to you and your awesome kids. Wishing you all the best 2024!
I've been thinking about this post a lot and anticipatory grief. We're empty nesters. Our son moved out for college in 2018 and out daughter in 2021. Son stayed in town, and daughter moved to Chicago for school, but by the time she left, he was in NYC for many months out of the year. Where the grief would hit me the most was in the most random (but not really) places. I would be at the grocery store and find myself putting their staples in a cart, and then realize that they weren't going to be home for several months, and would put them back.. then I'm crying in the dairy aisle, or the socks aisle... or watching kids get off the bus.
They were both home for the holidays for extended periods (our daughter gets Thanksgiving until the second week of Jan off) and it was so nice to have them home. When the house became empty, I couldn't help but feel it in my bones and it made me cry... it's bittersweet. They're amazing people and I'm enormously proud of them. They're living full and exciting lives and I know there is so much more joy to come.. but I miss them in a way that didn't happen when they first left. It's like it's finally dawned on me that they have launched. Childhood is over. They're not coming back home... and it's hard. Happy, but hard.
“Anticipatory grief”. Thank you for framing something I couldn’t put into words.
Literal letting it go. You get an A++ for that, my friend. Happy new year, and let's do this!
Sometimes we let go willingly, sometimes the world (or Boston) makes us let go. Here's to knowing when our energy is better spent making room for the new, instead of resisting the inevitable change. Happy new year Bec. Love you.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I felt like the entire back half of 2023, every moment of June onwards, was just life telling me (somewhat relentlessly) to let go. I thought about that so much in December - but I feel like I have just enough clarity to know that I need(ed) to let go, and I have no real idea what happens next. Are we done? Right now, I'm just holding on loosely, but my hope for this new year is to embrace whatever it is I'm making space for. It's unbelievably helpful to be reminded that this process is all just so fucking human.
I thought got car sick in Laurel Canyon last weekend and ended puking on Van Nuys near the In and Out Burger... but it followed me to Laguna and throttled me until I got on a plane on Jan 2. In other words, SAMESIES.
Happy New Year, lady. It only gets better.
I'm going to need to read this on a printed page so I can circle, !!, and otherwise absorb it into my marrow. Damn ❤️
Happy new year, you bad ass woman. 💛
This reminds me of what I read today, someone describing cold plunging- the hard part isn’t the discomfort it’s the story of suffering you tell yourself in anticipation of the discomfort. That is the case for so many things I imagine. I guess that is what Stoics talk about to some extent.
So glad you’re feeling better and so hoping I have as effortless a time with the letting go as you have! (We are about 6 months out and I am definitely in that anticipatory grief stage! Plus perimenopause so yeah. Lots of tears.) Happy New Year to you and your awesome kids. Wishing you all the best 2024!
Making room for MORE - YES!
I've been thinking about this post a lot and anticipatory grief. We're empty nesters. Our son moved out for college in 2018 and out daughter in 2021. Son stayed in town, and daughter moved to Chicago for school, but by the time she left, he was in NYC for many months out of the year. Where the grief would hit me the most was in the most random (but not really) places. I would be at the grocery store and find myself putting their staples in a cart, and then realize that they weren't going to be home for several months, and would put them back.. then I'm crying in the dairy aisle, or the socks aisle... or watching kids get off the bus.
They were both home for the holidays for extended periods (our daughter gets Thanksgiving until the second week of Jan off) and it was so nice to have them home. When the house became empty, I couldn't help but feel it in my bones and it made me cry... it's bittersweet. They're amazing people and I'm enormously proud of them. They're living full and exciting lives and I know there is so much more joy to come.. but I miss them in a way that didn't happen when they first left. It's like it's finally dawned on me that they have launched. Childhood is over. They're not coming back home... and it's hard. Happy, but hard.