Drop your weapons. Put down your swords, guns, knives, stones, shields... drop your armor, let it all fall to the ground. Step away from it. This is not how you want to do things.

Stop the fight. Even with your arm raised in the air, mid-arc, sword in hand, ready to strike... drop it, let it go, stop.

Stop fighting.

Stop fighting with yourself. Stop fighting with the idea that giving up is always bad. You don't have to fight your way through life. You shouldn't have to FIGHT or FORCE anything that's meant for you. The terms "fight for" and "fight with" have somehow become synonymous in our vocabularies. There is a vast difference between working hard for something and fighting for it. If you have to fight to keep something in your life, if it feels desperate, is that REALLY the feeling you want to associate with something you apparently love so much?

The problem with letting go is that it often brings a certain amount of pain. Humans are designed to dislike pain. When our bodies send us a pain signal, it's a sign that something is wrong and needs healing. When we are in physical pain, we seek out someone who can heal us, or medication that can ease the pain. But when we are in emotional pain (the pain of letting go, for example), there is no "doctor" or "medicine" for us to seek out. We try to avoid that pain at all costs, because there is no quick fix for that. The only thing that can heal emotional pain is time and mindfulness. We prolong the inevitable, holding off the pain for as long as we can, replacing that one large amount of pain with tiny little pin pricks and annoyances that steal our joy -- but hey, as long as we're not in pain, right??? (note the sarcasm in that question)

Everything is temporary. Pain is temporary. Happiness is temporary. Sunshine is temporary. Rain is temporary. It all goes in cycles... that is the nature of living. The pain will pass. So drop your weapons and stop fighting. Let it happen. Move on. You'll be OK.

Maybe one day when you finally get to a point where you stop fighting, you will no longer feel the need for all those defensive walls and fortress iron that you cage yourself in. I bet you'll realize then that your attempt to keep out the pain actually created a cage around you and walled you in. This is me, dropping my weapons, letting down my defenses, and walking away from it all to just live my way. You are welcome to come along, but I won't ask you twice and I won't look back. If you should choose to stay caged and walled in, then when you finally do step out... you know where to find me.

The End.