SURRENDER

To most surrendering seems like weakness. To most when they hear ‘surrender’ it means waving the white flag. But what I have started learning is that surrendering simply means letting go of control, letting go of the constant fighting back and allowing yourself to be in your reality.

Being a model has taught me many precious life lessons. It has taught me to value myself, how to fend for myself, how to stand out, how to be strong and probably the most important, how to be patient. (not that I always practice it) Patience is becoming an everyday task for most people. It is not something that comes naturally. We always want our lives to play out now. We want our dreams to come to reality now. We want things to work out now. But as we grow in life we realize that things take a lot more time out there than in our heads. There are a lot of details we miss when we imagine how things could be. And one of the main things we always forget is that life can change at any moment. We can plan out everything to the last detail but we simply just don’t know how life will turn. Have you ever had a fight with someone then think back after how you could’ve said everything better, or you don’t see the person for a while and before you meet up again you play out the meeting in your head of exactly how you would want it to go? It never plays out the way we thought.

Jeff Bergen 2016

Growing up is probably one of the most frustrating things we go through. We have to learn to be independent; we have to figure out how the world works and where we actually fit in. I’m 25 and my biggest struggle lately has been to realize that we will never have it all figured out. You think you know how to ‘adult’ today, but tomorrow you realize that you miss being a little girl that runs around, plays outside, with your biggest worry being what tree you’re going to climb next.

In the modelling industry, as I have said many times, things are inconsistent, and even though I plan my day to day it doesn’t always work out that way. But I have realized that in every career or job there are inconsistencies. I have spoken to many family and friends all in different spheres of life and everyone has agreed to the same thing: We can’t figure life out. There is no recipe. I think part of growing up is realizing that letting go of what you can’t control is a must to stay sane. And that’s where surrender comes in.

Wild at Heart 2016 – Iceland

Surrendering doesn’t mean giving up, or settling. Even google says it means to stop resisting.

I think part of being happy in life, is being at peace with where you are. Not setting this as your final destination, but stop resisting the unchangeable. Look at how far you have come and be proud of the things you have done to bring you here. Our constant outlook on tomorrow and the future can sometimes steal our joy for today. Trust the process. If you are in a space right now where you don’t want to be that’s ok. You won’t stay here forever. At the end we are all in this together. Everyone goes through similar struggles; I guess we just have to learn to be ok with not knowing or understanding everything.

I don’t think we have to wave our white flags just yet but I do think we should sometimes just throw our hands up in the air, take some of the pressure off and just enjoy what we have even if it’s not exactly what we wanted. If we can laugh about the smaller challenges in our lives it will make it easier to go through the big ones without feeling completely overwhelmed. You are not in this alone. Embrace today whether good or bad because tomorrow is coming and it’s bringing its own new challenges or breakthroughs.