My Personal Surrender Experiment
How letting go of control opened the door for inspiration, alignment, and unexpected opportunities.
For three years, I found myself grasping. Wanting so badly to create something. I had this clear dream in my heart for the impact I wanted to make in this world around mental health, but I just didn’t know the how. I thought if I just pushed harder, strategized longer, or forced my mind into more brainstorm sessions, the big idea would finally arrive. But it never did. And looking back now, I know why: I wasn’t ready.
The truth is, creation doesn’t always come from grasping. Often, it comes when we finally let go.
The spark for The M Project came in a way I could have never planned. Almost a year ago, I had hosted a men’s mental health panel with no brand, no pitch deck, no strategy. Just passion. Just the desire to create space for honest conversation. I wasn’t thinking about outcomes, I was living in the process.
And then, a few days later, I went on a run. In six miles, with no agenda in mind, the entire vision for The M Project arrived. Not piece by piece, not scattered fragments. The whole thing: name, meaning, essence. Like it had just been waiting for me to be open enough to receive it.
It felt like magic, but maybe it was just alignment. I had finally released the tight grip of needing to figure it all out. I had created space in my mind and heart by letting go of the attachment, the constant wanting. And when that space opened, inspiration could finally flow in.
Since that moment, The M Project has been less about control and more about surrender. I’ve been practicing what it means to live from the energy and intention I felt that day and to let trust, not strategy alone, guide me.
Books like The Surrender Experiment, Untethered Soul, and Letting Go have touched me deeply. But until now, I don’t think I’ve truly embodied them. This is the first time I’m really practicing their wisdom: surrendering to life, letting go of the stories in my head about how things “should” look, and opening my hands to receive what I cannot yet imagine.
And trust me, it’s not always easy. The old programming creeps in constantly around how this goes against the rules of business. That I should have a polished pitch and product for fundraising. That I should have a clear strategy for the next year…or five. That I should plan speeches in advance rather than speaking from the heart because that’s “lazy”.
But instead of forcing myself into those boxes, I’ve been listening for what feels true and honest in my capacity, my energy, and the information I actually have right now. And each time, it’s the stories that I’ve been letting go of in trust of my intuition, not the other way around, which I believe we are so conditioned to do.
That’s also how I approached the launch event for The M Project a few weeks ago. I wanted to do it well, so I gave it nearly 100% of my attention. That meant letting go of everything else: fundraising, social media, even planning out what’s next. So many stories came up about how this wasn’t “productive.” But it felt true and honest to where I was at. I wanted to be open enough to receive whatever life wanted to offer through the event, not limit it with my expectations.
And what happened next felt like confirmation. When the event ended, my old programming tried to creep in, insecurities around not having a plan, guilt for not being “more productive.” But I let those stories go. And within just a few days, three partnership opportunities appeared. A potential project surfaced that could really get The M Project off the ground. And I was even offered the chance to be featured on the news.
None of this could have been planned in my limited mind. It came through the energy of openness, the practice of surrender.
I’ve come to see The M Project as both an intention and a container for that intention. It holds space for me, for all of us, and for the universe itself to shape what it becomes. Because I know I can’t do this alone. And more importantly, I don’t want to.
When I let my ego step aside, when I stop trying to control the narrative, that’s when the magic enters. That’s when the partnerships appear, the opportunities unfold, and the momentum builds in ways I could never have orchestrated myself.
It goes against so many rules of business, and yet, isn’t that kind of the point? The M Project has always been about questioning the way things are. About creating from a place of more intention, more humanity, more honesty. About remembering that mental health isn’t about performance, productivity, or perfection, it’s about presence.
And if I can build this project in a way that embodies those values with trust, surrender, and openness, then maybe the project itself becomes a mirror of what it hopes to spark in the world.
on the listening path with you sis🥹
I love the experimenting and learning mindset. Thank you for modeling that. The rule and norm breaking is next level, I feel rules and norms have quite a hold on me, but I’ll find some small ways to experiment… orrrr it occurred to me as I was writing this comment that I don’t need to figure it all out myself and could ask for help!