‘Letting go’ often is the path to freedom

F reedom. July 4 — a day our country celebrates independence.

There also is that personal freedom that comes to us that we choose, or is chosen for us by another, as we go through life.

As I look back over my own life, I see that personal freedom has meant different things at different ages. It has most often been a kind of “letting go.”

There was the natural progression from high school to college, a freedom I welcomed.

There was the beginning of my own family. However, as my children became more self -dependent, there was a “letting go” that was painful, yet that freedom of time resulted in my returning to college and earning a graduate degree.

At age 40, following a serious climbing accident, the “letting go” was about moving from an “I can do it myself” person to someone who had to ask for help. Not being good at that, within seven years I found myself near burnout and the pain out of control. I made the choice to make adjustments in my life that allowed me to manage the pain in a more realistic way, but it was a “letting go” I resented.

Between ages 50 and 60, “letting go” included a divorce and becoming a single woman, and a second marriage lasting only three years due to my husband’s cancer death and becoming a widow. Each event was a painful “letting go.”

Now in my 70s, the letting go comes in the form of not getting stuck on the things or people over which I have no control, but instead choosing to give my attention and energy to making the adjustments that come with aging.

Sometimes freedom is thrust upon you and sometimes it is a choice. Sometimes it is an occasion for mourning and other times it is something to celebrate.

Today, I choose to celebrate — fireworks and all.