The Truth About Letting Go
What my year of letting go taught me—and how it will shape 2026 on Wild Arisings
Aloha lovelies,
I’m stubborn. In January, I declared surrender as my theme for the year, but I’ve discovered that 99% of me doesn’t want to let go.
The plan was to:
Surrender to what is
Flow without resistance
Let go of everything
Could my aspirations have been any loftier?
Surrender sounded like the most inspired and appropriate aspiration at this stage of my life. But the truth is, letting go is not easy for most of us—we cling to our identity and lives as they are.
What have I learned in my failure to surrender? Let’s take a look.
Lessons in Letting Go
I won’t keep you in suspense.
Here’s the main lesson I learned: When you say you want to let go, you’ll likely get way more stuck in before you come close to surrender. The Universe may even bless you with disasters to help you on your path of letting go.
In an attempt to recover lost income from the radical decline in my writing payments on Medium, I got stuck into publishing notebooks and journals on Amazon KDP. The process brought out my creativity and stimulated joy. But it also sparked my perfectionism and ability to hyperfocus in its most physically debilitating form,
Nevertheless, I doubled down and accomplished quite a lot in my limited hours.
For example, I:
Learned a new design program.
Created 20 gorgeous, tropical flower-themed composition notebooks.
Launched my first major medium-content book, The Buddha Way: A 52-Week Guided Journal for Practicing Peace and Wisdom in Everyday Life.
Built my Amazon author page.
Learned how to create A+ content, the “from the publisher” section on an Amazon listing.
Created a Pinterest board ecosystem.
Learn how to and launched my first and now subsequent Amazon ad campaigns.
The frustration inherent in learning new skills and the intense time spent at the computer created stress and strain in my own body-mind ecosystem. But I kept pushing through. The composition notebooks were a fun experiment, but the process of making my first guided prompt journal proved more intense.
I don’t know if my blood pressure crisis at the end of April was the first warning sign meant as a stark reminder of impermanence. Any type of medical crisis can be a wake-up call and an invitation to let go.
It slowed me down for a few months, but then I fully jumped into creating The Buddha Way—a three-month project that I thought would never end. I pushed myself a little too hard when I neared the finish line, injuring my left shoulder.
A creator’s work is not complete, however, on publication day. That’s when the marketing begins: requesting reviews, creating A+ Content, and sharing your journal or book on social media—all with deadlines to support the launch. In my world, deadlines = stress.
At the end of September, after receiving a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, I developed six weeks of dizziness and greater-than-usual ear pain. This began just days before the launch of The Buddha Way.
Those symptoms subsided, but the neck and shoulder symptoms and the recurrence of back pain have not. It’s painful to use the computer for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
Which leads me back to letting go.
When you say you want to let go, you’ll likely get way more stuck in before you come close to surrender.
What Now? Changes on Wild Arisings
Maybe my year of letting go wasn’t a failure. Maybe holding on more tightly naturally occurs when we declare our commitment to letting go. Perhaps it’s an essential part of the journey of surrender that requires pushback before true letting go can happen.
Because my neck, shoulder, and back symptoms haven’t let up, there have been moments when it seemed I may not be able to continue writing on Substack or creating journals and books.
After doing more rather than less over the last year, I can suddenly accept that radical possibility. I’m surprisingly willing to let go should that be required of me.
A few days ago, I was listening to a video on spiritual awakening from Susanne Marie and was struck by this invitation:
“Stop, rest, and allow. Stop running away from the present moment. Rest, relax, and allow. Allow what is to be here as it is. Stop and be still. When will it be time to stop?” —Susanne Marie
I know I need to pause for the benefit of my physical body and spiritual essence—at least for a while.
That means:
I’m taking a break from publishing new articles for the remainder of 2025.
In 2026, I’ll publish twice a month instead of six times a month on Substack. I hope those pieces will be even deeper and more meaningful and will provide a new and different benefit for paid subscribers.
Although I have grand intentions, I don’t know whether I’ll publish any new journals or books in the next few months, although my Daily Intentions Journal is close to the finish line.
I’ll also be putting in my medical paces like X-rays, physical therapy, and specialist visits. I already know I have lumbar spinal stenosis, so no surprise that’s been acting up given the extra time sitting at my desk.
Letting Go—At Least a Little
I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished this year. It feels perfect that my first and possibly only guided journal has been a testament to the wisdom of the Buddha. The principles are universal however, and relevant to anyone.
The Buddha would be the first to advise us to let go in every moment. Although it’s been a challenging year that embodied more clinging than letting, perhaps I’m ready to surrender—at least a little bit.
“If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely you will be free.”—Ajahn Chah
How about you? Where are you at with letting go? I would love to hear from you in the comments.
Until Next Time
I’ve always hesitated to change my writing schedule because I’m deeply committed to my readers. But I know you’ll support me because I have a kind and caring community.
As always, I’m so grateful for your presence and support. Every ❤️, comment, and share helps my articles reach more people. So please keep them coming, and know how blessed I feel by your presence and generosity.
Until next time, stay safe, be happy, and let your love flow. Sending you all my love and best wishes.
xo Sandra
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Thank you! ❤️
P.S. If you’re looking for a last-minute gift for a stationery lover, journaler, or writer, check out my beautiful composition notebooks. Choose from among 20 different designs.
Something unexpected came up for me here. I started wondering if letting go is less an action and more a consequence. Not something we do, but something that happens after we’ve exhausted the strategies that once worked.
Reading about the body interruptions, the injuries, the dizziness, I didn’t hear punishment or lesson. I heard a conversation that finally got loud enough to be unavoidable. Almost like the body saying, I’m not negotiating anymore.
That doesn’t make the year a failure to me. It makes it a threshold. One you didn’t rush to name or explain. You just stood there and told us what it felt like to be in it.
Sandra, whatever pace you choose to set for yourself here on Substack, I support it. I believe most of your readers will too.
I'm sorry you've had a challenging year with health issues. It's such the way it is - to have offered so much of yourself in the way of creative expression at the same time holding the challenge, then moving through it.
As I finished my series on Thresholds, I was once again struck by how much of life involves standing at the threshold, crossing over it, and then learning who we want to be in the new world we enter.
Be well, my friend.