Letting Go vs. Giving Up

“If it’s meant for you, you won’t have to beg for it. You’ll never have to sacrifice your dignity for your destiny.” -Chelsi Porter

I work in TV hosting. These beautiful opportunities to interview actors is also associated in this world known as the “Entertainment industry.” Actors, musicians, TV hosts, and more mostly live by a mantra of, “Never ever give up…” You never know what’s going to happen in this unpredictable environment. It’s hard to make any sort of commitment to a specific place or schedule when your calendar is so unpredictable. This is why a lot of artists get pegged as flaky.

We spend a lot of time waiting around for other people to make decisions that dictate where we will work next. When you’ve invested so much time into a dream it transitions into a mindset of, “I can’t give up now, I’ve already spent so many years trying.” It’s exhausting and very easy to get burnt out. Something switched in me this year and I started to lose interest in a lot of what I’ve been actively pursuing for the last six years.

At first, I shut my feelings out because I assumed that I was just getting discouraged because things weren’t going exactly as I had planned. Do they ever? With meditation, I started to listen to my heart and I realized my heart wasn’t in it in the same way it used to be. Moving to New York City at age 17, almost 6 years ago opened up opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise known. However, just because that’s what fueled me to try something new doesn’t mean it still propels me forward.

I started reading books. I was seeking to figure out what I was supposed to do to feel re-inspired. The first ones that spoke to be were Spirit Junkie and A Return to Love. As weird as this sounds, I also went back and reread a lot of my old journals. Your former self can be wiser than you remembered it to be. My perspective was so unfettered years ago. Somewhere along the way, I got jaded.

The biggest break through was my understanding of my ego. I started to differentiate between my own thoughts/self and my ego/fear. When a negative thought came to me, I practiced allowing it, releasing it, and rising above it. I’m not sure where I picked this up but I started asking, “What would my higher self do?” It really helped me to remain grounded in pretty much any situation that didn’t feel right.

Has there ever been something in your life that no longer served you but you had a difficult time letting it go? What helped you to look forward instead of clinging to something that no longer felt good? Please leave a comment below of books or podcasts that helped you, perhaps they could help other readers! I encourage you to take the leap and jump onto a new branch even if you free fall in the meantime…

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Thank you,

Cassidy Gard