Letting go is hard for a lot of people – letting go of past slights, of unfulfilled dreams, of lives not lived – and I’ve certainly had my bouts of but why not? over the years. The one thing that I have learned in life is that holding onto something negative is toxic for the soul and the state of the soul begets everything else. My first divorce was painful because it collapsed into an argument about the stuff, which was more stuff being the currency of emotions – whose dreams weren’t met, who was hurt, etc. and in walking away from the argument, I was able to walk away from most of the lasting poisonous effects.
The old slights accumulate with time, but if you can just chalk them up to a grey area of whatyagonnado? then you are able to move on and embrace the old joys more than the wrongdoings. I don’t know for sure but I do think that if you selfishly look at how your holding onto things that make you upset, mad, angry, hurt in the end hurts you, maybe you’d be more inclined to forgive the past and move joyfully into your future.
As Joseph Campbell said you have to be prepared to give up the life you had planned for the one that awaits you.