What’s the difference between giving up/quitting and letting go?

What’s the difference between giving up/quitting and letting go?

I’m not totally certain but it seems like quitting and giving up have negative connotations. I don’t think that’s always necessarily true but perhaps that’s why letting go sounds and feels better. Sometimes letting things run its course is what we need. Perhaps it opens pathways to new things or things that have been paved by previous endeavors. 

slow down sticker

I’ve been letting go of a lot. It feels odd. For so long I have been pushing, my schedule packed, my to do list lengthy and seemingly never ending. Somewhere things shifted, changed. Maybe it’s because my children are older and self-sufficient. Maybe it’s because filling my hours and using all my energies was what I needed at the time. I am not sure. All I do know is that I am settled , calm, even a bit unmotivated… It's a paradox because it feels good but also a little odd. Like is there something I should be doing?  Is it wrong to feel like not doing anything, to just enjoy being…reading if I want, playing dumb games on my iPad, making art just to make it… it feels lazy or un-goal oriented … I’ve always had a big project, goals (both long and short term) for as long as I can remember. And the weird thing is I can also recall also wishing for slowness, time to just be without deadlines, pressures, accomplishments on the line. 

sit in stillness

So how do I settle into this era of being settled?  Is it just a pause before something else snags my goal driven core? Or is being settled and calm the reward for what I’ve rushed around and focused on for so long? 

I do know that I want to keep creating. I need to. But I want to return to creating to simply create, not only for a product or purpose… that’s difficult in a way because what will I do with the art? Do I have to do anything with it?  I have soooo much art I’ve created just sitting in my home. But I am not motivated to hustle to sell it … and to be honest sometimes I wonder if it even matters if I save it… should I just clear it out?    And why create more?  I mean, I know why, because it’s fun and expressive and oh so cool to see an idea emerge, progress and become tangible. 

So for now my solution is that I shall write, draw, paint, express however the universe calls to me. 

just start sticker