> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.gilespcroft.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What are you clinging on to? - URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/what-are-you-clinging-on-to/ - Published: 2026-10-14T06:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-14T06:00:00.000Z - Description: …and how much is it taking out of you? 😖 - Author: Giles P Croft - Tags: Life change, Careers, Anxiety, Creativity, Decision-making, Goals, Identity, MECHANICS, Metaphor, Nature & Outdoors, Productivity, Self-confidence, Stress, Habit change, Writing, #1:1 CTA, #re-use The other day I shared a [water metaphor](https://www.gilespcroft.com/ripples-on-the-pond) with you, which reminded me of a passage I read in a wonderful book by Richard Bach called *Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah*. It's another water metaphor. Check this out… ![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2026/10/Emoji---Quote.jpg) Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all – young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going on its own way, knowing only its own crystal self. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But one creature said at last, **“I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.”* The other creatures laughed and said, **“Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you, tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!”* But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more. And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, **"See, a miracle! A creature like ourselves, Yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!”* And the one carried in the the current said, **“I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.”* But they cried the more, **“Saviour!”* all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone, making legends of a Saviour. 🌊 So, with your consent, I'm going to give you a little poke here and ask: 🤔 How many people are you willing to watch fly past in the current—enjoying life to the full—while you cling on to whatever it is you're clinging on to? There's no judgment here, it's all perfectly normal, remember: > *“resisting the current was what each had learned from birth”* But it's not the natural order of things. It's not how life works. Life flows. Experience flows. Thought flows. It never stays the same. The thing that stays the same is your ability to be *in* life; to go with the flow and respond to each moment that comes along, and the next, and the next. And savour each one. --- Imagine being one of those creatures, clinging to a rock. 🪸 Imagine how much *effort* that would take. Imagine the force of life, relentlessly tugging at them to let go, and follow where it takes them. Do you feel it? Because we've got a built in alert mechanism for reminding us of all this: our feelings. When we're in the flow of life, it feels good. When we're not in the flow of life—when we're clinging on and resisting what is—we feel it in our bodies. Stress, tension, physical symptoms, unhealthy coping mechanisms. All from clinging on. From resisting the current of life. Your true work is this voyage, this adventure. Isn't it time to let go and see where it takes you? 🌊 Giles GET YOUR OWN CHANGES [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2026/01/GPC-mugshot-at-desk_800px.jpg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/individuals) If you think it is indeed time to let go, but you're a bit nervous about doing that, then why not do it with someone by your side? Wherever you're at, however long you've been clinging and whatever it is that's holding you back, I help you get the change you need, in a way that's just right for you. [Apply now for 1:1 support ](https://www.gilespcroft.com/individuals)