81. Control
I wrote a song in 1976 that was supposed to be a reminder to me about control and it has been just that kind of reminder. It tells me that oftentimes control is an illusion anyway. It tells me that I can be more relaxed, more peaceful, if I can let go and not try to manage absolutely everything and everyone around me. Here are the words:
It’s so hard to let go, It’s so hard to lose control,
To let someone else do it. To let someone else plan it.
To let someone else mess it up and say a proper “damn it.”
It’s alright if you don’t have your finger in every pie there is,
You don’t have to earn the plaque that says you’re a super-duper whiz,
It’s so hard to let go, But when you do, then you know
that you don’t have to have control.
—
It’s so hard to let go, It’s so hard to lose control.
You don’t have to manage each step of the dance,
Instead you can stand back—let others take a chance.
If you have to control everything that there is,
then the people around you are torn.
Take a breath, let it go, and you slowly can know
that the people around you are born.
You don’t want to control, for you smother the soul
of each person that you love.
—
It’s so hard to let go, It’s so hard to lose control.
The burdens you carry are bad news for you.
They keep you from being. They split you in two.
So release, shed them off and discover the freedom there is
when you finally can see,
When you stop the controlling you then can be present
and you—at last—can be.
It’s not hard to let go—If in you, you can know
that you don’t gain by control
© Copyright 1976 Ann Freeman Price
