Letting go is the hardest part.

I took my dad ziplining at his request during our recent vacation. I was a little nervous given his age and somewhat frail body but we went for it. 

We got to the place to first get harnessed up, our helmets on, and out on the course. Then came the first zipline. As I stood next to the guide observing each person in front of me zip down, he nodded his head and said “letting go is the hardest part.”

At first I didn’t get it. It seemed like everyone was doing just fine. But then he explained how each person was gripping tightly to their harness. While instinct is to hold on, it’s actually letting go of the tether and harness that gives you freedom to fly freely when ziplining. It’s how you make the most of the experience.

The guide’s words and advice felt like more than just tips on how to zipline. It was like a reminder of how I was holding on too tightly in my actual life. On that day in particular, I was struggling to accept my dad as someone who is frail. He’s only ever been strong in my eyes up until even a year ago.

Like riding down a zipline, life can feel at times like it’s changing and moving far faster than we want. Our parents age, our kids grow up, we lose people we love, and things don’t turn out like we expected. So we hold on tightly to hope, outdated beliefs, the past, and more. In the way we can’t fully experience the zipline until we let go of the harness, we also can’t fully enjoy the moment and the people in our lives until we let go of what once was or our expectations of what should be. 

Maybe when we find ourselves holding on tightly, we just need to remember the guide’s simple advice: Loosen your grip and trust it’s okay to let go. It might be the hardest part, but it’s also the most freeing part. It’s how you make the most out of this ride.