There is a distinct pain that comes when you are forced to say goodbye to a person or thing that is dear to you. Sometimes it is little things such as moving away from your first home. Sometimes it's much larger things like dealing with a death of someone you loved or losing a friendship.

Saying goodbye is not easy for anyone to deal with. I am not looking forward to the day when I have to sell my little, blue Honda Civic. I know I will get another car that I love just as much, but it is my first car and I don't want to say goodbye. I don’t know how I’ll handle packing up my tiny apartment and moving across the country. They are both little things that I dread leaving behind.

People are the hardest for me to consider saying goodbye to. The people I truly love are dear to me. Saying goodbye to people I love is not what really what I want to do.

In his book, “Winnie the Pooh,” A.A. Milne wrote, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

When I begin to consider how badly it hurts to lose a person I love, I remind myself of this quote. It isn’t easy to watch a relationship end. It isn’t easy to give up the minute things that mean a lot to you, like a car. It isn’t easy to accept the death of a loved one. It simply isn’t.
When I’m feeling that distinct pain of saying goodbye, I try to remember “how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Some things slip through our hands, so to speak. We did not realize they were leaving until they were gone. Some, however, we see them leaving and still can't seem to let go of them.

Shakespeare wrote, "It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."

Shakespeare lied. It is better to have known love than to have never loved at all, yes. It is better to have known love than to have died without ever tasting it. It is not better to have loved and lost. The memories are mostly all wonderful, yet, the pang of losing that love seems unbearable.

It isn't easy to let go when you love someone so truly. It isn't easy move on when you wish so badly to spend forever with that someone. It isn't easy. It isn't fun. It isn't enjoyable. Still, it is necessary. It is bearable. It is possible.

Letting go of hope is, no doubt, the hardest. The hope "of what could be" maybe possibly after all these things is more harmful than helpful. That hope will only give cause to hurt you more later on in life.

What, then, will help you move on? What will help you to let go? What will teach your heart not to love that one certain someone? I'm not sure anyone actually knows the answer to those questions.

I do, however, know that life is an adventure, even the parts that are tragic. It won't stay tragic forever. Life will never stay the same for long if you keep learning, going and doing. As long as you are willing to risk letting go, you will be able to. Do not rush through the process.

Letting go can be an adventure all on its own.