Sometimes you have to say “Ok, whatever” and let people do what they’re going to do. As much as you might like to (I know we would!), you can’t control the world or other people or anything really other than your own behavior and emotions. That is everyone’s true sphere of influence. The rest of it is either an illusion or subject to being deposed without warning.

Periodically I struggle with this because there are things I would very much like changed, but they won’t be and I have to deal with that as best I can. A lot of dealing with it is simply learning to step away and say to myself “This is beyond my control and I’m going to turn my mind to other things now.” It’s hard, though. It’s one of those lessons you can’t just learn with one iteration; it has to be gone over a multitude of times before it really starts to sink in. It’s that whole Buddhist let-go-of-attachment thing - emotions, things, people, all of it. Letting go is hard!

Last week was spent in an emotional turmoil because I couldn’t let go. This week has been slow and down because I couldn’t let go. It’s easing up bit by bit, though, and I’m hopeful that next week will see us back on track and reasonably bereft of expectations for anyone other than ourselves. You have to take care of yourself first because that’s the only way you can be sure it’ll get done. Also, how can you take care of other people if you aren’t making sure your own needs are met? You just can’t.