Everyone grieves when experiencing loss uniquely, but letting go is necessary for all. You may wonder when the right time to let go is, as there is no definite answer out there. These quotes on when to let go after a painful loss will help you figure it out, though.
While letting go may be hard, it is crucial for your healing process. You have to embrace the present if you want to move on. You won’t be able to move forward in life if you continue clinging to what you can’t change positively.
Letting go doesn’t mean you forget about your loss, though. Instead, it means that you are accepting that the past can’t be changed and focusing on the present. These quotes on when to let go can help you along the way.
Quotes on When to Let Go After a Painful Loss
1. “It’s possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief… lessens. It may not go away completely, but after a while, it’s not so overwhelming.” – Nicholas Spark
When you lose someone or something important to you, the sadness over it will never entirely go away. You can’t wait for the grief to pass to let go. Instead, acknowledge that there is nothing you can do to change it and that your life will be different from now on.
Then, you’ll be able to continue living and growing. You’ll still feel sad, but you’ll be able to move forward positively.
2. “Life seems sometimes like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end. That’s the given. How you respond to those losses, what you make of what’s left, that’s the part you have to make up as you go.” – Katharine Weber
Sometimes you may feel like you just keep losing, and, indeed, loss occurs often during life. You have to learn to respond positively, which means letting go of what you can’t change. Then, you continue living your life, doing your best as you go along.
3. “You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.” – Jan Glidewell
Don’t miss out on the present because you are clinging to things you can’t change. Loss hurts, and you’ll continue to feel sad or angry, but you have to embrace the present now.
4. “If you hold back on the emotions – if you don’t allow yourself to go all the way through them – you can never get to being detached, you’re too busy being afraid. You’re afraid of the pain, you’re afraid of the grief. You’re afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails. But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your heard even, you experience them fully and completely.” – Mitch Albom
This is one of the longest quotes on when to let go, but it’s worth the read.
You have to begin letting go of what you’ve lost, and that means you have to allow yourself to feel. Face the emotions and express your grief for a bit. Then, you’ll be able to let go and move forward positively.
5. “We need to grieve the ones we have loved and lost in this lifetime — not to sustain our connection to suffering, but to sustain our connection to love.” – J. W.
Since you need to let go to move forward, you have to grieve what you have lost. If you don’t grieve, you won’t be able to begin the healing process.
You’re not doing this to prolong the sadness, but to remember the love you felt. Once you’ve had a chance to grieve, you’ll be able to let go.
6. “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” – Ann Lander
Clinging to what you can’t change doesn’t signify strength. Instead, knowing when to let go and move forward in life are signs of strength. You’re stronger than you think, so you have to start focusing on today.
7. “See, as much as you want to hold on to the bitter sore memory that someone has left this world, you are still in it. And the very act of living is a tide: at first, it seems to make no difference at all, and then one day you look down and see how much pain has eroded.” – Jodi Picoult
When you’ve lost someone you love, it can be hard to let go of that. As Picoult explains, however, you are still alive, and you have to keep living. Over time, the pain won’t seem so debilitating anymore, but you have to let go and accept it first.
8. “We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together, and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” – Pema Chödrön
No matter how great things seem to be going, a loss can come at any time. It’s a part of life, and, typically, there are good times and hard times. You have to leave room for all of it to get the joy, so let go and know that the good feelings will return.
9. “When we lose someone we love, we must learn not to live without them, but to live with the love they left behind.” – Anonymous
You won’t forget someone you loved, but to let go, you’ll have to learn to live with the love you felt about them. When you learn to live with that love, you’ll be ready to let go. The sooner you do this, the better your life will be.
10. “There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.” – Unknown
When you lose a job, relationship, opportunity, or something else, it’s normal that you take it hard. You have to let go, however, and remind yourself that something new is coming. Focus on the future instead, and you’ll find happiness much more quickly.
11. “I learned that, with grief, you have to take it one day at a time and learn how to find the happiness amid the heartbreak.” – Adrienne C. Moore
When you take it day by day, you’ll begin the process of letting go. It doesn’t happen overnight, so it is important to start right away. Take some time to grieve, and then begin living your daily life again.
12. “What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.” – Suzanne Collin
Since you can’t always find dandelions and springtime, find something else that reminds you of this. Find something that will remind you that life will be joyful again.
13. “Deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
Many others have faced a great loss and recovered from the pain. Remind yourself that others have been through this before and managed to let go. You aren’t alone, and you will get through it.
14. “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
There is nothing you can do to change what happened yesterday. You can decide what tomorrow will be like, however.
15. “Grief is never something you get over. You don’t wake up one morning and say, ‘I’ve conquered that; now I’m moving on.’ It’s something that walks beside you every day. And if you can learn how to manage it and honor the person that you miss, you can take something that is incredibly sad and have some form of positivity.” – Terri Irwin
The world grieved along with Terri Irwin at the tragic loss of her husband, Steve Irwin. Perhaps her voice is one of the wisest when it comes to quotes on when to let go.
Letting go of the pain doesn’t mean that you didn’t love what you lost or that you don’t care. It means that each day you choose to move forward and make a positive difference in your life.
You will still think about what you’ve lost, and it may even bring pain again. You’ll be able to smile, however, as you know that all you have accomplished is in honor of your loss. When you let go, you’ll be able to turn all of that pain into positivity.
Final Thoughts on Quotes on When to Let Go After a Painful Loss
Facing any type of loss is hard, but you are strong enough to get through it. These quotes on when to let go explain it perfectly, and it is important to begin letting go right away. In order to positively move forward, you have to let go.
The pain won’t stop immediately, but you’ll be able to work towards making every day better. These quotes on when to let go will offer support and guidance as you work towards letting go after a painful loss.
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