The path to what's next in life is letting go of what was in life

​Back in 2018, I attempted to run the 35-mile Georgia Jewel. I quit about halfway through the race. 

I'd spent six months playing up how important the race was to me, how prepared I was for it, and how God was going to help me move every mountain that tried to stop me. 

And yet, the mountains were too mountainous that day. 

Coming up short on race day ended up being the least of my worries - at least when it came to running. For months, I beat myself up for not finishing that race. I felt like I'd let myself down. I felt like I disappointed a lot of people who'd supported me. 

The result, for the longest time, having a bad run in Georgia made it impossible for me to have a good run anywhere else. 

I've been figuring out lately that running is not the only place I've done that. In fact, it's running, and maybe even that Georgia Jewel race, that's helped me see it.  

For the longest time after that Georgia Jewel race, when I tried to run, no matter where I was trying to pull off that run, no matter how many weeks and months had passed since that race, I was still in Georgia. 

I couldn't move forward with what was next in running because I had a death grip on quitting that Georgia Jewel. 

Maybe you're not a runner, but it's still entirely possible you have a death grip on some other 'what was' in your life. 

I think we all want to be ready to tackle what's next; we're at our best when we're ready for it. Sometimes we'll even stand in the doorway and shout at what's next, "here I come." 

But as we shout, one hand - maybe even both hands - have a death grip on the door knob.

We WANT to walk out that door to what's next. We SAY we will. But we just can't let go. We have a death grip on what was. 

We have death grips on our childhoods. 

We have death grips on failed relationships. 

We have death grips on failed business opportunities. 

We have death grips on habits or addictions. 

You know, that natural rhythm of life is 'next'. The earth keeps revolving, the clock keeps spinning, the calendar keeps flipping forward, the next season keeps coming. Life is constantly marching toward next. 

Maybe our greatest fight in life is our fight against that natural rhythm. 

The flow of life is downstream. Too many times I find myself clinging to a branch in the middle of that stream - the 'what was' branch - I find myself clinging with a death grip.

If you find yourself there today, picture it. Picture your death grip on that branch. Feel how tightly you are clinging to it.  And then, THEN - picture yourself letting go of it. Feel the freedom as you flow downstream into what's next. 

Last fall, three years after I quit that first Georgia Jewel race, I finished that race. Crossing that finish line felt like letting go of that branch. 

I find myself doing that more and more lately - letting go of branches. I feel more in rhythm with life. I feel more excited than ever about what's next....  

Excitement I never had the chance to feel when I when I had a death grip on what was.