Last month we were lucky enough to have visitors since uncle and aunty were in town. Not my uncle, but my kids’ uncle that is. We headed to Darling Harbour to show off the International Conference Centre to an aspiring architect. But it also happens that just a few metres away there is a playground which is buzzing all day, even as late as nine in the evening. So just because uncle is here, we ended the evening going up and down the slides (see photo for evidence). It is my favourite photo from last month because it reminds me that “happiness is only real when it is shared”, and this was one way to share it with the kids and our guests. 

In a way August reminds me of the first few moments when you start pushing yourself down the slide. You move slowly and wait for gravity to pull you down. August, and the months that follow, quickly slide you down the calendar until the year is over. There is one thing you need for you to slide all the way down and that is letting go. So here are three lessons from August that I will use to let go and move into the last few months of the year. 

Letting go requires boldness 

In the beginning of August Olympian Sally Pearson announced her retirement from athletics. Her decision to retire from athletics comes after several injuries she had, which disrupted her plan to compete further. I was inspired by Sally Pearson’s announcement and her decision to listen to her body over her competitive spirit and to prioritise her life accordingly. It got me thinking on being free to let go, even of that which defines me simply because I have been lucky enough to do it for so long, by choice or by circumstance. I had been thinking for some months on our strengths should not keep us from being open to new paths. Pearson undoubtedly had a talent as an athlete. She was in fact a world champion time and time again. Yet she was bold enough to let go when it felt right to do so. Her decision does not make her any less talented. Her future is unclear, of course, but that does not make it one inch less exciting. She has let go and is ready to grow into her next phase in life.   

When letting go is a key result

Letting go is an objective in itself. The decisions that follow are the key results that fulfil it. I did get to re-listen to the Ted Talk by John Doerr on how Objectives and Key Results (OKR) help a business or project succeed. One quote from Bono resonated with me and is also relevant when letting go is the right thing to do. Here’s the quote:  

“So you’re passionate? How passionate? What actions does your passion lead you to do? If the heart doesn’t find a perfect rhyme with the head, then your passion means nothing.”

Finding a perfect rhyme between the heart and the head is a major achievement. Even in Sally’s case, her passion did find a perfect rhyme with the head and she was brave enough to take the decision. Sally is not the only one who reminded me about letting go. Also in August I stumbled upon a blog by an ex-Vodafone colleague who boldly decided to take a break from the corporate world and become a farmer with a cause. His blog is entitled ‘Leaving the trap’…so what’s this trap?

The trap of not letting go

Whilst these are all life changing examples of letting go, there is a more gradual way to let go, it is deep within and very personal. One quote I stumbled upon in August was the concluding note by C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity. He states 

“There must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away…you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self.” 

If you simply try to tell the truth – now that’s a key objective. Primarily being truthful to ourselves, then reflecting that in our relationships and boldly fulfilling it through the decisions we take. The alternative is a trap – not being truthful to self, putting up a face in your relationships and being trapped in a lie. 

Letting go requires courage to let go of worries and expectations, the safety of the familiar and the certain, not making whatever comfort a liability that hinders our journey to become the people we were designed to be. 

If only we simply try to tell the truth.