Midlife Transformation & Personal Growth

Bruce Lee’s “Die to Yesterday” Quote and Why Most People Never Let Go

“To express yourself in freedom, you must die to everything of yesterday. From the ‘old’, you derive security; from the ‘new’, you gain the flow.” — Bruce Lee

Most of us stay attached to the old version of ourselves because it’s familiar, it’s worked, and it’s kept us safe.

We can’t build the new version while we’re still clinging to the old one. The old version has to end first. That’s not loss, that’s the flow Lee is talking about. We don’t get it by holding on tighter, we get it by letting go of what already served its purpose.

What are you still carrying from yesterday that’s costing you today?

#MotivationMonday

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One response to “Bruce Lee’s “Die to Yesterday” Quote and Why Most People Never Let Go”

  1. cristiannorman

    Life has always been about comfortability. For me, once I reach a certain goal, I stay there. For this example, I’ll relate it to my mindset about running. I accomplish something difficult, prove to myself that I can do it and then I get comfortable.

    I’ll achieve something that I wanted so badly in life, and when it finally happens, I don’t always feel the excitement or satisfaction that I would expect. Sometimes I feel absolutely nothing.

    It’s quite strange in a way because I know objectively, I have made a ton of progress. I started running back in February of this year, barely being able to run a mile without stopping. I ran my fastest mile at a 6:17 pace, ran a 5k and a 10k and there hasn’t been much improvement since.

    There was a time when things like those would have felt impossible to me. And instead of realizing, “I just did that” I start thinking about what I haven’t done yet.

    And maybe that’s why I keep finding myself stuck in this same cycle. I work towards something, achieve it, get comfortable and eventually feel like I’m not progressing anymore. One thing I need to remember is that the person I am today is already someone my past self would’ve been proud of.

    What’s costing me today is yesterday’s limits, yesterday’s comfort and the belief that what I’ve already accomplished is enough reason to stop.

    I’m tired. Majority of people don’t like running, it’s uncomfortable, it hurts, and there are plenty of times I would rather stop.

    Except, deep down inside of me, there’s something that I feel only in the moment when I run, almost a different personality. There are people who would give anything in the world to have the ability to run, to feel their lungs working, to feel their legs get tired, to experience the discomfort that I’m complaining about. So when I catch myself complaining about something that I’m fortunate enough to be capable of doing, I ask myself this question: “Why am I complaining?”

    I write this post for one reason only. Not to explain my accomplishments but to give myself a goal. This Friday on the 4th of September, I want to run a marathon. I don’t care when I finish it, as long as I reach 26.2 miles. I wake up everyday knowing my body is capable of doing something extraordinary and too often I choose to live in comfort instead.

    I don’t want to keep wondering what I’m capable of. I’m going to have to find out myself. Not in a month, not in a year but in a week. I don’t have time to make excuses. It’s finally time.

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