
The other day, my sister and I were talking. You know those deep life convos that start randomly and hit harder than your morning tea.
We were ranting about how unfair it feels sometimes when someone you care about deeply treats you like you’re just there. No effort, no warmth, no accountability. And no matter how much love, respect, or patience you pour in, you have zero control over how they choose to behave.
That person may be special. Important. But still you can’t fix someone’s emotional immaturity with your loyalty.
It hit me hard.
We spend so much time trying to fix, hold, repair, adjust. When what we really need to do is detach.
Why We Get Attached at First Place
It starts innocent. A job that makes you feel seen. A relationship that gives you butterflies. A city that felt like magic on Day One. You feel alive, wanted, purposeful.
We don’t get attached to the thing. We get attached to how the thing makes us feel like important, secure, admired, stable.
But here’s the brutal truth most attachments are not about love. They’re about identity.
We start thinking, without this, who am I? So you cling. Even when the job becomes toxic. Even when love turns into arguments and cold silences. Even when the city drains your soul.
And in that clinging, we shrink. We tolerate. We spiral. We betray our peace one compromise at a time.
The Ruin Comes Quietly
Detachment doesn’t hurt. Holding on does.
Ever seen someone hold a rope too tight? The marks don’t show up instantly but the damage is deep.
Imagine trying to carry a cactus across the desert because once, a long time ago, it bloomed.
You’d call that stupid, right? But that’s exactly what we do with old connections, expired careers, or the potential in someone who’s clearly not changing.
We romanticize the past. We invest in a future that exists only in our head.
And in the process, we burn the present.
Letting Go When I Had No Choice
After my father passed away suddenly due to cardiac arrest, I was shattered. He wasn’t just my parent, he was my purpose.
Every goal I had in life was tied to him. The job I chose. The money I wanted to earn. The future I imagined all of it was built around the idea of making him proud.
He had worked so hard. Took loans for my education. Did everything for the family. And I always thought one day, I’ll repay all of this. I’ll show him it was worth it.
But I never got that chance.
When he passed, it felt like the air got sucked out of my world. I spiraled into regret. I kept thinking, What’s the point of working so hard if he’s not here to see it?
For years, I lived in that loop. Guilt. Tears. Emptiness. I was breathing, but not really living.
And then slowly, painfully I began to let go.
Not of him.
But of the guilt. The shame. The endless pressure I was putting on myself.
I started doing things he used to admire small things. Writing. Showing up for people. Taking care of myself.
Bit by bit, I felt his presence again not in sadness, but in peace.
Letting go didn’t erase him. It healed my relationship with him and with myself.
A Few Things Letting Go Taught Me
- Grief doesn’t end. But peace can grow around it. You don’t move on, you move with it.
- You’re allowed to live even if someone you loved didn’t get to see it.
That’s not betrayal. That’s legacy. - Letting go doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means you care enough to stop carrying poison in your chest.
- Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is keep going anyway.
Even with tears. Even with empty chairs at the dinner table.
Love Breakup and Let Go
My friend was in a relationship for 7 years. Deeply in love. She planned her entire life around him. Then one day, she found out he was cheating with someone they both knew.
She didn’t leave immediately. She said “I don’t know how to exist without him”.
That line stuck with me. She wasn’t afraid of pain. She was afraid of identity death. But eventually, she walked away.
Years later, she’s in a better place, built a life she actually enjoys, and now says that heartbreak was my rebirth.
Detachment didn’t ruin her. It restored her.
So What Is Detachment, Really?
It’s not coldness. It’s not giving up. It’s not becoming a monk on a mountain who owns one spoon and has no friends.
Detachment is clarity.
It’s saying:
It’s making decisions from alignment, not addiction.
It’s learning to walk away, not because you’re weak, but because you’ve finally remembered your worth.
Detachment in Practice
- Job: You quit the high-paying job that’s killing your soul. You choose curiosity over burnout.
- Person: You stop texting someone who only calls when they’re bored. You stop begging to be chosen.
- City: You move out of the city that never sleeps and finally get 8 hours of rest.
- Past Self: You let go of the perfect plan and allow yourself to evolve.
Peace Is Expensive Pay the Price
Detachment hurts temporarily. But staying stuck is a lifetime subscription to regret.
You don’t have to burn everything down. But you do have to ask:
Because the truth is Anything you have to chase constantly isn’t meant to stay.
Peace never runs. It sits quietly and waits for you to choose it.
And when you do this, Life gets lighter. We breathe deeper.
We realize that the real flex isn’t holding on.
It’s letting go and still thriving.
So go ahead. Detach with love. Heal without apology. And choose peace like it’s oxygen. Because, honestly, it is.
. . .
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This post was previously published on Readers Club.
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I sense it’s easy for many people to confuse MENTAL attachment (to concepts, outcomes and definitions etc) with EMOTIONAL attachment (a vital, physiologically needed human experience). They are two separate, yet vitals aspects of human thriving. Many moons ago when Buddhism first described ‘detachment’, we knew little of how our bodies worked, so all-around detachment was the best solution to manage distress. Now we know more about our bodies, and the importance of emotional attachment, as well as how to develop / refine our emotional response, so its no longer something we need to avoid or ‘manage’ with mental strategies.… Read more »