Letting Go When There’s No Resolution
- Jenn Jones
- Jun 13
- 3 min read
Rituals for heartbreak, harm, and unspoken endings
Sometimes closure never comes.
Sometimes you’re left holding the pieces of something that fell apart quietly, or loudly, without repair. Sometimes silence isn’t peace. It is grief. It is exhaustion. It is protection. It is a choice to care for community without needing to be seen doing it.
If you are carrying something that feels unfinished, unspoken, or unresolved, these small rituals are for you.
Take what resonates. Leave what doesn’t. Make them your own.
Letting Go Ritual: The Unspoken Goodbye
For when you never got closure.
Light a candle or turn on a soft light. Whisper what you wish you could have said. You don’t have to be clear. You don’t have to be composed. Let it come out messy. Let it be incomplete.
Say aloud:
You don’t have to understand me for me to be free.
I release what I carried in silence.
Breathe. Stay with whatever comes. When you are ready, blow out the candle or gently walk away. You said enough.
Letting Go Ritual: When You Feel Betrayed
For when someone misused your trust or your kindness.
Gather a small bowl of water, add salt, and find a stone or small object.
Name what was broken. Name what was true.
Hold the object in your hand and speak:
I trusted. I cared. And that mattered, even if they never saw it.
Drop the object into the salted water.
I let this pain move through me and back to the earth. It does not define me.
When it feels complete, pour the water into the soil or down a drain. Let it go.
Letting Go Ritual: Honoring the One Who Stayed
For when you kept showing up, even when it hurt.
Write a letter to yourself. Name what you held. Name the things no one saw but mattered. Let it be an offering to your own resilience.
Hold a flower, herb, or leaf and say:
I am proud of how I stayed present.
Even in the mess, I chose care.
Tuck the letter away or bury it with the flower. Let it become part of your healing, not your burden.
Letting Go Ritual: Releasing Roles That No Longer Serve You
For the caretakers, the peacekeepers, the ones always holding everything together.
Write down each role or expectation on a small piece of paper. Name them. Name what they cost you.
Examples:
The one who always fixes it.
The one who never says no.
The one who holds all the pain.
Say:
This was never mine to hold forever.
I release this role with care and gratitude for what it taught me.
Burn the papers, tear them, or drop them into water. Let them leave your hands.
Place your hand on your body. Whisper:
I do not have to perform worthiness. I am allowed to rest.
Letting Go Ritual: Grieving Collective Harm
For when the group fractured, when the system failed, when the shared dream dissolved.
Gather a handful of stones or acorns or anything small and earthy. For each hurt, place one down.
Say:
This is for what we could have had.
This is for what we tried to build.
This is for what was never named.
Leave the stones where they are. Let them hold what you no longer need to carry.
Say:
I honor what we survived.
I name what was real.
I carry forward only what is mine.
Letting go does not mean forgetting. It does not erase what happened or soften the weight of what was real. It means making space to keep living. There doesn’t have to be a perfect ending. There can be ritual. There can be breath. There can be quiet truth. We don’t need closure to begin again. We only need to keep choosing care, presence, and the next honest step.
