Letting Go: Learning to Ride the Rip

There is a moment, when caught in a rip, where panic takes over.

Your body tenses, your mind races, and everything in you screams to fight against the pull of the water. Instinct tells you to swim harder, to resist, to claw your way back to the shore. But the more you fight, the more exhausted you become.

This is how holding on feels in life.

We grip onto relationships that are unraveling, old identities that no longer fit, beliefs that once felt safe but now confine us. We resist the natural currents of change, terrified that if we let go, we will lose ourselves completely.

But just like in the ocean, the key to surviving the rip is surrender.

The Power of the Current

A rip is not designed to pull you under. It is not an enemy trying to destroy you. It is simply a force of nature—a current moving in a direction different from where you thought you needed to go.

When you fight it, you become weaker.When you surrender to it, you find freedom.

The same is true in life.

When we fight against change, endings, grief, or transitions, we exhaust ourselves. We try to swim back to a version of life that no longer exists, only to realise that no amount of effort will take us there.

Letting go does not mean giving up. It does not mean we stop caring or stop trying. It means we stop fighting the inevitable and start moving with the current instead of against it.

What Letting Go Really Looks Like

Letting go is not passive. It is an act of trust.

💛 It is choosing to stop clinging to what no longer serves you, even when part of you still longs to hold on.

💛 It is allowing grief, loss, or uncertainty to move through you without resistance.

💛 It is recognising that the path ahead is unknown, but that does not mean you are lost.

💛 It is learning that when life pulls you in a new direction, it is not trying to drown you—it is trying to carry you to new shores.

Lessons from the Ocean

1. Stop Fighting the Rip

The first thing you are taught when caught in a rip is to stop fighting against it. Instead of swimming frantically back to shore, you turn sideways and move with the current, not against it.

In life, this means:✔ Recognising where you are resisting change out of fear.✔ Choosing to trust that the current knows something you don’t.✔ Allowing yourself to flow with what is unfolding, even when you don’t have all the answers.

2. Float Before You Swim

When panic sets in, the safest thing to do is float.

Floating allows you to conserve energy, regain clarity, and breathe before making your next move.

In life, this means:✔ Giving yourself permission to pause instead of reacting impulsively.✔ Finding stillness in moments of transition.✔ Trusting that doing nothing for a moment is sometimes the wisest choice.

3. Let the Ocean Carry You to a New Shore

A rip won’t keep you out at sea forever. If you trust it, it will eventually release you into calmer waters, where you can swim back to shore effortlessly.

In life, this means:✔ Knowing that every transition eventually leads to stability again.✔ Trusting that what is lost is making space for something new.✔ Understanding that letting go is not an end—it is a passage to something greater.

Letting Go with Grace

At Hurihanga, we honour the wisdom of surrender.

Whether you are navigating the loss of a relationship, a shift in identity, or the discomfort of stepping into something new, the process of letting go is always the same:

💫 Stop fighting.

💫 Trust the current.

💫 Float until clarity arrives.

💫 Let life carry you where you are meant to go.

Because the truth is—you were never meant to stay on the same shore forever.

You are meant to move, expand, and evolve.You are meant to trust that even when you let go, you will not be lost.You are meant to ride the rip, not fight it.

And when you do, you may just find yourself arriving somewhere far more beautiful than where you started.

The Rip that inspired this blog at Forestry this Sunday.