I've never been fond of the phrase "forgive and forget". I feel as if that was originally said by someone on the outside looking in, having not experienced what his/her audience had.
Kesha's new song "Learn To Let Go" shouts everything my soul needed to hear.
The chorus reads:
I think it's time to practice what I preach
Exorcise the demons inside me
Whoa, gotta learn to let it go
The past can't haunt me if I don't let it
Live and learn and never forget it
Whoa, gotta learn to let it go
These lyrics resonated with me, where I'm at in life, and my healing process.
"I think it's time to practice what I preach"
I spend so much time handing out advice to various individuals among all different walks of life. Why do the words I myself speak not resonate with myself? I genuinely think I needed to hear it from someone else, someone who I admire. The first time I heard "Learn To Let Go", I knew where I stood. I knew that it was time to listen to my intuition.
"Exorcise the demons inside me"
I reflect on my attempts to exorcise my own demons... For me, therapy has been the most successful process of ridding myself of the past and regaining my composed self. I am not what happened to me. The demons are in no place to remind me.
"Whoa, gotta learn to let it go"
The "Whoa" sounds more to me like a c'mon to myself. Yes, it's not an easy process to unshackle yourself of all that has held a grip on you. In the end, the past will hold you back if you allow it to hold onto you, so let it go and allow yourself to move forward.
"The past can't haunt me if I don't let it"
Realizing I had full control over a situation was new to me; I have full control over my well-being. I chose, and still choose, to move forward. I let go of people that were reminders of bad times. I stopped going to places where I felt even the slightest bit of unsafe. I started sharing my story. I wrote what I didn't want to have to burden others with. I found comfort in the truth that I have full control over how I choose to move on.
"Live and learn and never forget it"
Comparative to "everything happens for a reason", I believe that we endure each of life's endeavors to learn and grow. Sometimes, that looks like failure, hurt, betrayal, or even trauma. To live and not be changed by what you've lived through isn't even living in my eyes. Take all the knowledge, awareness, and strength, and apply it to life from that moment on. It may sound easier to just forget, but our minds speculate what we wish never happened... Is it even possible to truly forget? So live, learn while you do so, and reflect on what you've overcome.
Kesha's latest album, Rainbow, comes out August 11th 2017. "Learn To Let Go" is just one of many moving songs that have followed the four year halt in her music career.
