In the finale of season 2 of And Just Like That, Carrie proposed a toast at the “Last Supper” before moving out of her favourite apartment, which she has lived in for over a decade. While she was finally ready to let go of this cosy apartment in a posh area, she invited her guests to think of the things they would like to let go of.
We always hold on to many little things, memories, or ideas, no matter if they are good or bad. Zen masters told us to train ourselves to remain calm through meditation or mindfulness. If our brains can let go of worries, hate, anger, and greed, we can enjoy peace in our minds. It’s easier said than done.
Choosing to land in another relationship, Anthony let go of “control”, and his new partner let go of “Rome”, where he comes from.
Seema let go of “distrust” as she finally takes up a serious relationship with a director who is very business-minded and has to live in the Middle East for half a year.
Miranda and another character both chose “guilt” because of the relationship issue and the crazy thought about giving up the baby.
Nya is giving up “yesterday” as she is so happy to hit on the Michelin chef. Carrie picked expectations,” and as she explained, sometimes things turn out better than expected somehow.
Expectations are a huge word. When I studied marketing, the lecturer emphasized the role of expectations a lot. People are guided by hopes and expectations when making purchase decisions instead of economic factors.
When we meet someone special, we have a set of expectations that may determine whether a relationship can or cannot work. When we interact with our family members, we expect our parents to support us or our siblings to be our good friends.
Letting go of “fear”, “guilt”, and “regret” is something we commonly do successfully for our well-being. My therapist once said, “Don’t set my expectations that high, so I won’t be that disappointed in the end.”
Do I expect myself to be a high achiever every time? The company I had worked with for years let me down so badly that it hurt me so much. I set up a massive database, established a solid communication policy, built rapport with reporters, drove business enquiries from campaigns, and offered insights on increasing website traffic and hitting on keywords. I should have been more assertive and protected myself when the selfish supervisors belittled me for keeping their own benefits. That ruined my well-being. Working for a company like this is totally unhealthy.
I’m happy that I shifted my job role to focus on helping those who are more in need in an organisation that engages to promote a healthy environment.
I let go of my regret about not leaving that company earlier and my fear of not jumping out of my comfort zone much earlier. Now I am a sponge. The world is big. I try to absorb every new thing in life.
I still cannot let go of expectations; I just set my bar lower while adding wisdom from people around me every day.
experience today 