Letting Go
Nobody changed the world by being indecisive - Jeff Goins
I just finished Think Again by Adam Grant. In the beginning of the book he talks about a series of firefighting smoke jumpers who were trapped by fires. They were forced to run to the top of the ridge to try to out race a wildfire. Many of them died because they wouldn’t let go of their equipment. Rather than shed their possessions to save their lives, they died holding a chainsaw and carrying a backpack. This wasn’t a single incident, though one is highlighted, he actually describes a number of incidents with similar results.
Grant makes a different point in the book, but what struck me is his explanation that a smoke jumper’s training and even identity is tied to their equipment. Often they didn’t even think about dropping their equipment. How much of our identity is tied to things we own? Are there physical things worth dying for? I say no, but people do it every day. Addiction is complicated, but too many people would rather die than let go of something that might change their identity.
It’s time to let go.