I’ve been wishing, hoping, and praying for a change in my career and life for the past few months, but everything seemed to stay the same. I decided to read a book on manifestation and meditation, hoping it would help center and guide me toward a new path. Now, I’ve been trying to practice meditation daily, but with my scatterbrained tendencies (or maybe it’s ADHD), it hasn’t yet become a regular habit yet.

There was something specific I visualized and wanted to manifest, but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards. After a mentally draining week, I started to doubt myself and my future. That’s not like me—I like to think of myself as ‘Mary Poppins’—but life has been, well, life’n a bit.

Today, I had the day off, so I went to a local café and read outside. I sat with my book, phone, and a cappuccino, enjoying the cool summer breeze. In those moments, I felt at peace and incredibly grateful for life. It reminded me how much nature impacts my mood. Staying cooped up in my apartment, working remotely, and not interacting with others has been rough on my mental health. After three years of working from home, I’ve realized that fully remote work just isn’t healthy for me. But I digress.

In the book, I came across a passage that resonated deeply: “As counterintuitive as it sounds, part of the manifesting process is the necessity of letting go of our expectations.” In that moment, I had an epiphany—I realized that my intense desire to manifest this one thing was rooted in fear. I can’t control how the universe unfolds my path, and that’s okay.

Letting go of expectations doesn’t mean giving up; it means freeing yourself from the anxiety and fear that come with trying to control every outcome. It means trusting that the universe has its own timeline and that everything will fall into place when the time is right. As I sat in that café, feeling the breeze and the warmth of the sun, I realized that sometimes the best way to move forward is to surrender—to let go and allow life to flow naturally.

This journey of manifesting and meditation has taught me that while it’s essential to set intentions and visualize your goals, it’s equally important to release the need for immediate results. Sometimes, the greatest gift we can give ourselves is the freedom to just be, without the pressure of forcing things to happen.

So, I’m choosing to let go, to trust, and to embrace the uncertainty. I’ll continue to manifest and meditate, but with a lighter heart and an open mind, knowing that the path ahead may not look exactly how I imagined—but it might just be better.

If you’re finding yourself stuck or frustrated, maybe it’s time to let go too. Trust the process, and remember that life has a way of working itself out in ways we can’t always foresee. And in the meantime, take a moment to enjoy the little things—like a good book, a perfect cappuccino, and the beauty of a summer day.