From the age of 8, Doreen knew what it meant to let go of what, at the time, was the most important thing in her life.
She grew up surrounded by the natural beauty of Costa Rica in a home her father and grandfather built from the ground up. Her tight-knit family lived on the same block. They saw each other every day. It was her safe place, as close to heaven as she felt she could get.
That came to an end when she learned her family would be moving to the United States.
She had to let go of the comfort of her home and her family and the only life she had known, but she still had hope that the better opportunity her parents promised would find them in Florida.
The abandonment issues she would go on to have later in life in her relationships all stemmed from leaving her home country, Doreen said.
The next time she learned to let go was just a few years later at the age of 10. Her parents’ marriage came to a bitter end shortly after moving to the States. Anger brewed for Doreen. Her family was the one thing that offered a sense of comfort in a new country and life and that crumbled, too.
They always pictured a perfect house with a perfect family. The reality here didn’t live up to what she had pictured.
“Our American Dream as immigrants was just destroyed with this marriage falling apart,” Doreen said.
Doreen, having had to let go of things so near to her heart since her childhood, feels she has learned to leave life’s little worries behind. She has learned to grow on her own and forget the resentment she felt toward her parents since leaving Costa Rica behind.
There are things she has become expert at letting go of – negative energy and thoughts, toxic people and relationships – and there are things she still struggles to free herself from. She must remind herself to look ahead rather than behind.
Her message?
Cherish the good memories in your past but remember not to live there.
