10 Things You Should Release (But Probably Haven’t Yet)

What we release is always the inverse of what we embrace.

I’ve been long-sitting with the word release, trying to hold more in palms held up, less in clenched fists. Release is the word of the year I’ve chosen—not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard and I know it will grow me.

I’m assessing what it is that I’ve carried into 2022—what’s serving me well and what’s undermining who I really want to be.

This release is the hard and holy refining that leaves me undone. Surrendered.

What we release is always the inverse of what we embrace.

And the opposite is true too.

We can move in just one direction at a time. And these small choices, to release or embrace, set the direction.

We are each “[learning to] live well this one beautiful life” (words borrowed from this post by Joy Marker). And our decisions, as Emily. P. Freeman says in the tagline to The Next Right Thing podcast, are “also about making a life.”

We release control. We become one who is content, trusting, and flexible.

We release worry. We embrace peace, joy, and faith.

We are always moving towards or away from the things that mark the life of one beautifully, authentically whole.

What we release is always the inverse of what we embrace.

I’m writing a list. 10 things I want to release. Things that aren’t serving me well.

I probably should have let them go a long time ago. But I haven’t, and perhaps you haven’t either. And if you’d like to join me, I wouldn’t mind a bit.

Here’s the list.

The long-overdue things I’m letting go:

1—walking beneath a cloud of “behind”

2—saying yes out of obligation

3—saying no out of insecurity or fear

4—trying to out-perform myself

5—making the choices for other people

6—playing it safe

7—showing only my made-up face

8—artificial conversations

9—being anyone but myself

10—giving lip service to the rest of this list

What we release is always the inverse of what we embrace.

It’s the prayer I’ve been praying daily—a prayer of release.

Perhaps you’d like to borrow it.

Lord, I release my plans for today—the things I want to get done, the things I feel I should do. I release the cloud of “behind” I’ve been walking beneath. I release my excuses and the things emptying me. I release my worry; I release the tension in my voice; I release the things I’ve held in closed fists. I give You my words, my work, and my thoughts. I surrender to You today.

What we release is always the inverse of what we embrace.

In order to embrace a missional mindset, I must release the things that steer me opposite:

• the controlling and withholding
• the people-pleasing and performing and polishing
• the pride and self-righteousness and self-sufficiency

I can go in just one direction at a time.

And so can you.

Deeper into the depths of loving God and loving like God—or into the trap of guarding, curating, and second-guessing that makes shallow my relationships and steep my loneliness.

The high road is also the hard and holy road, but we don’t travel alone because Immanuel is always God with us.

What we release is always the inverse of what we embrace.

I’ll say it again because perhaps I, too, need to hear it one time more.

And in this sweet surrender I always find I am filled with more than I give up. It’s the crazy truth this in the letting go and going low we fill with more of Him.

So I’m committing to lean hard into my word release this year.

One way I’m doing this is by inviting you to keep me accountable.

I’ve revamped my newsletter with a few new sections, and one of those is a space for me to share a couple lines about what I’m releasing each week. I hope my real-life, non-filtered examples encourage you to keep leaning into your word of the year too.

If you’re not getting my newsletter yet, I invite you to be part of my email tribe. We’re an honest bunch of people who don’t always get it right, but we know the direction matters more than the pace. And we’re growing in love and learning together to live lives that have a ripple-effect in our neighborhoods.

Please, would you join us?

Grace and blessings,

Twyla

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