In the movie “Frozen,” Elsa sings the popular song, “Let It Go,” which speaks to her feelings about letting her abilities be seen by the people of her kingdom. The lyrics include:
- “It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small”
- “And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all”
- “I'm never going back, the past is in the past”
Elsa knew about the power of letting go. This article will discuss ways to let go of negativity in your life.
Why You Should Let Go
Bad things happen to everybody; it’s just a fact of life. It’s what you do about those things that matters. You could choose to wallow, letting the negativity swallow you up until you’re so deep in depression you forget there’s another way to live. You could try to force unpleasant emotions down so you don’t feel them, then wait until they explode — because they will.
Hanging on to unpleasant emotions can also make you physically ill. Stress-related illness is one of the top reasons for absenteeism and presenteeism at work. Presenteeism is when people show up for work despite feeling stressed, anxious, burnt out, or sick, making them less productive than they usually would be. Stress-related illness can cause problems with your heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, brain, and mind.
There are many ways to let go. Here are just a few of them.
Meditate
When you meditate, you can concentrate on your breath to get your mind off of the stressors in your life. Guided meditation can help you direct your thoughts to help you let go of negativity and past hurts.
Meditation is just one form of mindfulness, which centers your thoughts on what’s happening in the present, to move you beyond the unpleasant emotions you’ve been holding on to.
Practice Radical Acceptance
Radical acceptance is a technique where you accept that a given situation is what it is, and there’s nothing you can do to change it. You aren’t judging the situation; you aren’t reacting to the situation; you’re simply accepting that it’s a thing that happened to you.
By doing this, you’re disconnecting the emotion from the event, so you can view it in a more neutral light without all the unpleasant emotions weighing you down.
Use Supplements To Help You Relax
It’s hard to let go of anything if you’re too wound up to do it. You can use things such as Heavy Hitters cannabis products, essential oils, Bach flower remedies, or dietary supplements to help you relax.
Be careful when you choose your supplements; you want the highest quality you can find. Make sure you research the ingredients so you’re only ingesting the substances you want.
Give Yourself Grace
You wouldn’t give your best friend a hard time about feeling unwanted emotions, so you shouldn’t get so down on yourself for doing that exact thing. Give yourself the grace of being human and having emotions you don’t always want.
Grace goes hand-in-hand with self-compassion. If your best friend came to you with the situation you’re having a hard time letting go of, what advice would you give? Give yourself that same advice, then follow it.
Increase Your Self-Care
Self-care doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. It can be something as simple as drinking a glass of water or watching the sunset. Of course, you can always go all-out on self-care and invest in a weekend at the spa or on a golf course. Anything that revives your spirit, rejuvenates your body, or boosts your mood is fair game when it comes to self-care. Other examples of self-care include:
- Dancing to your favorite music
- Doing a new workout routine
- Going for a walk
- Using a new scented soap in the shower
- Attending a religious service
- Getting together with friends
It’s important when you’re choosing a method to help you let go that you pick something that’s going to work well for you. For example, if you’re uncomfortable in groups of people, going to a religious service may not be the best option for you. When you let things go, you’ll feel lighter and happier, and you’ll be able to move forward in a healthy way.
