Enough, already!

We just got back from a wonderful family trip to Charleston, where we toured the USS Yorktown. It has a great history.



I was reminded of the tenacity of all of the men who served the Yorktown during WWII, the determination, the heels dug in for the long fight. Young men, some of whom had never left their home towns, let alone visited abroad, were thrust into a situation not of their making, sent around the world to fight a war they'd only heard of on the radio and on news reels, and from those home on leave. Their families were back home, sacrificing for the war effort, praying for their safe return. The country pulled together, civilian and soldier alike.



Sometimes life calls on us to settle in for the long haul. We must put distractions aside and do what must be done. Perhaps not in a war zone, our battles are fought in our offices, our neighborhoods, our own brains. We are struggling with an addiction, or are preparing for a major project, or are fighting to hang on to a relationship, or we are clinging to a job that we feel we must keep to maintain a lifestyle we believe to be essential.



But there are those things we hang on to that we just need to let go. Past relationships come to mind. It's over, it's been over, it won't be starting back up, let it go. Your drive-bys aren't unnoticed, they're just annoying. Or maybe failed work assignments. The presentation DID stink, and it's over, you're not going to get a re-do, the world did NOT come to a crashing halt, let it go.



We hold on to so much, as if the past defines us. The past doesn't define us. It shaped us, but it's the past. And the past only has the power you give it. As I reflect on how the lives of those who served on the USS Yorktown were changed by the experience, I marvel at how well most of those men did once they came back to the real world. They let things go. Surely you can, too.