What could you let go of, for the sake of harmony?

When I ask myself, What could I let go of for the sake of harmony?, my first instinct is to say, Nothing. After all, I’ve already let go of so much: my safety, my voice, my trust.

But healing asks us to look deeper.

I’ve been hurt by abusive behavior, words and actions that left scars on my heart and my sense of self. For a long time, I held onto that pain tightly, thinking it kept me safe. I believed that if I stayed angry, if I replayed every moment, I could protect myself from ever being hurt again.

But the truth is, holding onto that pain has also held me back. It weighed me down like a heavy backpack I never put down, even when I was too tired to carry it anymore. It showed up in my relationships, in my inability to fully trust, in the way I spoke to myself when no one else was listening.

I used to think that letting go meant forgiving and forgetting, or worse, pretending it never happened. But now I know that letting go does not mean excusing or erasing the harm done. It doesn’t mean I have to invite the person who hurt me back into my life, or offer them a second chance they haven’t earned. Instead, it means choosing not to let the past define my present or my future. It means deciding that my energy, my peace, and my joy are too precious to keep sacrificing at the altar of old wounds.

Letting go is not for the person who hurt me, it’s for me.

I’m choosing to let go of the anger that poisons my joy.

I’m choosing to let go of the shame that was never mine to carry.

I’m choosing to let go of the need to constantly prove my pain to others, to justify my boundaries, to convince the world that what happened to me was real and wrong.

Instead, I am investing in myself. I am rebuilding trust, not with the people who hurt me, but with myself. I am learning to believe my own intuition again, to honor my feelings without dismissing them. I am learning that my worth was never diminished by what happened to me.

I’m creating new boundaries, stronger and clearer than before.

Boundaries that say:

I matter.

My needs matter.

My peace is non-negotiable.

These boundaries are not walls to keep love out, but gates to let the right love in.

For the sake of harmony, within my own mind, my body, and my soul, I am choosing to let go.

Not for them, but for me.

I know that healing isn’t linear. Some days, I feel strong and hopeful; other days, I feel fragile and full of doubt. But each small act of letting go is a step toward reclaiming my life.

It’s a way of telling myself:

You are worthy of freedom.

You are worthy of joy.

You are worthy of a life beyond the pain.

If you find yourself in this same place, please know this: letting go is not a betrayal of your pain. It is an act of deep, radical self-love. You deserve harmony. You deserve freedom. You deserve peace. And you don’t have to rush. Take your time. Take all the time you need.

Because harmony doesn’t come from forcing yourself to “move on.” It comes from gently, bravely choosing yourself again and again, every single day.

-🦩