{"id":342,"date":"2025-04-17T16:05:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/04\/17\/do-you-love-me-enough-to-let-me-go\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T16:05:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:05:31","slug":"do-you-love-me-enough-to-let-me-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/04\/17\/do-you-love-me-enough-to-let-me-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Love Me Enough to Let Me Go?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An honest conversation about death, dignity, and choosing how we go.<\/em><\/p>\n

W<\/strong>ow.<\/p>\n

I felt the temperature in the room shift\u2014just at the mere mention of death.<\/p>\n

Why?! Why are we so damn scared to talk about this thing that is as inevitable as sunrise? Is it the unknown? The finality? The loss of control? Or is it just the unbearable silence that follows the last breath?<\/p>\n

If we were promised some kind of blissful afterlife, would we still run from death at all costs\u2014or would we celebrate it, knowing a party’s waiting on the other side? Would we still clutch so tightly to this earthly plane, even when our bodies are screaming to let go?<\/p>\n

\n

When Survival Isn\u2019t Living<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lately, death has taken up a lot of space in my mind. A close acquaintance passed recently, after a long battle with health issues that were never going to improve. In and out of the hospital. Constant strain. And after she passed, I heard someone say, \u201cIt\u2019s so sad, but at least they\u2019re (she and her family) not suffering anymore.\u201d<\/em> That struck me\u2014hard.<\/p>\n

Would she have chosen death with dignity, if it were an option? I don\u2019t know. But knowing her condition wasn\u2019t going to improve\u2014knowing she was merely surviving\u2014makes me wonder:<\/p>\n

Why do we spend so much time, money, and energy keeping people alive when we know, with absolute certainty, that their suffering will only continue?<\/strong>
At what point does the patient get a say in their own end-of-life journey?<\/p>\n

In 2018, we lost my mother-in-law after a long, brutal fight with a rare, incurable disease called Multiple System Atrophy.<\/p>\n

In her final years, she was bed-ridden, reliant on machines to eat, breathe, exist<\/em>. Even if she had been ready to go, she couldn’t have told us. We watched as this bright, vibrant light dimmed slowly, painfully\u2014her body ravaged while doctors continued to \u201csave\u201d her so she could lie in bed, watch TV, and have people come talk at<\/strong> her, not with<\/em> her. Was that really living? Or just a slow, suffocating goodbye?<\/p>\n

Now, I face my own journey with an incurable, progressive disease. It\u2019s already taken so much\u2014my independence, my ease, my spontaneity. And I can\u2019t help but ask: when is it time to throw in the towel? And more painfully\u2026 will I even get a say?<\/p>\n

\n

The Hardest Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve danced with the thought of suicide\u2014dark, desperate moments when it seemed like the only way out. But love has always pulled me back. Love for my people. My wild, beautiful, messy crew. That tether. That ache. That loyalty.<\/p>\n

Still, I have to ask the hardest question I know:<\/p>\n

Do you love me enough to let me go?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because that, my dear ones, is the ultimate act of love. The gift of peace. The release from pain. Just like it would be selfish for me to vanish without warning, it is also selfish to ask someone to stay trapped in a failing body\u2014just to make us<\/em> feel better.<\/p>\n

\n

Death with Dignity<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Death with Dignity<\/em> laws come in.<\/p>\n

These laws are not about giving up. They\u2019re about choosing<\/em>\u2014about reclaiming control when illness has stolen nearly everything else. They are about choice. Compassion. Dignity. Autonomy.<\/p>\n

Although difficult, we will ease the suffering of a beloved pet, whispering, \u201cIt\u2019s okay, you can rest now.\u201d But for humans? Suddenly, there\u2019s moral panic. We clutch our pearls. We mutter about \u201cplaying God.\u201d When all we\u2019re really asking is to exit this life with grace, the same way we lived it\u2014on our own damn terms.<\/p>\n

Let me be clear:
I am not<\/strong> advocating for death.
I am advocating for dignity<\/strong>.
I am advocating for conversations that don\u2019t get shut down by fear or discomfort. I am advocating for options<\/strong>\u2014for the freedom to choose how we say goodbye.<\/p>\n

And let me also be clear: I still believe in miracles. I still believe in spontaneous healing, in divine intervention, in the possibility that something unexpected and beautiful could shift this entire journey. I\u2019ve seen it happen. I hold space for that magic. But I would also feel immense relief knowing that if the healing doesn\u2019t come, I\u2019m not trapped. I\u2019m not without a say. There is another path\u2014one paved with compassion, grace, and sovereignty.<\/p>\n

Currently, only 10 states\u2014and Washington, D.C.\u2014have Death with Dignity laws in place. And of those, only Oregon and Vermont have removed their residency requirements, making it possible for people from out of state to access these compassionate options. The fact that geography can determine our end-of-life choices is heartbreaking. Dignity shouldn\u2019t depend on a zip code. This is why advocacy and awareness are so critical. We must keep pushing for change.’<\/p>\n

\n

Maybe It\u2019s Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what\u2019s waiting on the other side. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.
Or maybe it\u2019s just peace. And maybe\u2026 that\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n

What I do<\/em> know is this:
Every breath is sacred.
But so is the right to stop breathing when the cost becomes too great.<\/p>\n

So again, if you\u2019re someone who loves me, I\u2019ll ask:<\/p>\n

Do you love me enough to let me go, when the time comes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re standing in that in-between space\u2014between holding on and letting go\u2014I see you. I honor you. I pray you find peace, power, and a voice loud enough to speak your truth\u2026 even in the shadows.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t about choosing death.
This is about choosing how we live<\/strong>, right up until the last heartbeat.<\/p>\n

And I choose love.
I choose truth.
I choose dignity.<\/p>\n

“If you love somebody, set them free.”<\/em>
~Sting<\/p>\n

The post Do You Love Me Enough to Let Me Go?<\/a> first appeared on My Self-healing Journey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: myselfhealingjourney.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An honest conversation about death, dignity, and choosing how we go. Wow. I felt the temperature in the room shift\u2014just at the mere mention of death. Why?! Why are we so damn scared to talk about this thing that is as inevitable as sunrise? Is it the unknown? The finality? The loss of control? Or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11,15,9,8,13,14,12,10],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multiple-sclerosis-research","tag-brain-repair","tag-marburg-type-ms","tag-ms","tag-multiple-sclerosis","tag-myelin","tag-neuroregeneration","tag-oligodendrocyte","tag-remyelination"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wickedsister.evit.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}