If like me you have a young child in your household then the chances are that you’ve been subjected to the words “Let it go” more times than you care to remember.

I’m talking of course about the latest Disney blockbuster smash hit move Frozen to which “let it go” is the title track.

But what does “Let it go” actually mean?

A lot of coaches, personal development gurus and performance expects often talk about the concept of ‘letting go’ – particularly when helping clients to move forward from negative or difficult situations.

To many people letting go can sound a little ‘esoteric’, ‘woo woo’ or ‘out there.’ A lot of people think that it simply means to surrender your situation to a higher power using phrases like – “what will be will be” “I’ll leave it up to the universe to decide” or “there’s nothing I can do”

I think they’ve missed the point.

I believe that kind of approach is disempowering.

I say that letting go has nothing to do with surrendering rather it can be a very empowering.

Imagine for a minute that in rope is dangling down in front of you. In order to get what you want you have to climb to the top. How do you approach it?

Do you worry about falling? Maybe you are anxious about losing your grip? Or perhaps you’re afraid of how high the rope is?

If you hold onto those feelings how likely are you to climb that rope? Very unlikely right?

But the thing is that you still have to climb that rope.

For me letting go is about letting of the fear of falling whilst retaining the responsibility for climbing the rope.

When we face difficult situations in life it’s often the same – we experience all manner of emotions and if we allow them to they can paralyse us. Surrendering to the universe is like burying your head in the sand, the reality is that no one is coming to save you – you have to take responsibility for doing something about it.