Let It Go: What We Can and Can’t Control


If life came with a remote, most of us would be pressing the “mute” button on certain people, skipping past the awkward bits, and turning the volume way down on Monday mornings. Sadly, no such remote exists. 

Instead, we’re left with a lot of things we wish we could control: what people think of us, the weather on braai (BBQ) day, or that one colleague who just won’t stop oversharing. Spoiler alert: we can’t.

I saw this simple diagram the other day: 

Two circles:

🔘 The outer one says: “Things we CANNOT control.”
🔘 The inner one? “Things we CAN control.”

And honestly? It was the gentle slap of truth I didn’t know I needed.

We can't control what others say or do, how they feel, or what happened in 2015 that still randomly pops into our minds at 2 a.m. But we can control our reactions. Our words. Our priorities. Our bedtime (even if Netflix disagrees). And our self-talk, because, let’s be honest, that inner critic is often just a drama queen with a loudspeaker.

When we stop trying to police the whole world and start focusing on our own lane, something wild happens. Peace. Clarity. And a lot less stress-eating.


✍️ Try This Today:

Grab a journal, a serviette, the back of a receipt, you get the idea... 

Make two columns:

👉 “Things I Can Control”
👉 “Things I Can’t”

Be honest. Be specific. Then ask yourself: Where have I been wasting my energy lately?

Now pick one thing from the “Can Control” list and commit to it today. Maybe it’s how you speak to yourself. Maybe it’s going to bed on time. Maybe it’s not engaging in that WhatsApp group war about pineapple on pizza. Baby steps.


Final Thought

Letting go doesn’t mean you don’t care. It just means you’re done trying to carry the whole circus on your back.
You’ve got your own tent to manage. Focus there.
And if all else fails, deep breath… and repeat after me: Not my monkeys, not my circus.

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