Growing up I was a huge fan of Charlie Brown. I couldn’t wait for the Peanut cartoons to come on during the holidays, and I would read the comic strip in the newspaper every Sunday morning. Snoopy the fearless dog that walked on two feet like a human, drank beer, and loved the ladies was probably my favorite character.

For whatever reason though Linus (the young man sucking his thumb in the picture while his friend awkwardly looks at him) was the one I rooted for. The blue blanket attached to Linus’s right arm was his trademark. He wouldn’t go anywhere without it and there aren’t too many times I can remember where it’s not firmly attached to his person.

I never understood why he carried the blanket around. None of the other kids did. Linus on top of being the smartest kid out of the Peanuts gang seemed like the most independent. He marched to the beat of his own drum. For example on Halloween while all the kids went trick or treating he sat and waited for the “Great Pumpkin” usually alone in a pumpkin patch. (A fictional character that Linus thought would bring him toys on Halloween, never happened) So as a kid I just didn’t get it, I never carried around a “blankee” when I was six so why would Linus?? It wasn’t until I got older that I understood the real issue with my second favorite character Linus.

Linus couldn’t “let go”. He had such an intense emotional attachment to the blanket that whenever he would either lose it or it would get stolen (which happened often) he would get physically ill. Linus would actually have withdrawal symptoms until he got the blanket back. He would walk around dizzy and weak, his emotional pain was probably one of the biggest reasons that I rooted for him. I would forget that I hated that blanket of his just so he wouldn’t have to go through it.

In his case besides the blanket just “looking odd” to others it really didn’t do that much harm. On some occasions it actually helped Linus out of tough situations. What about us? What’s the blanket (we think) we can’t live without? Is it a bad relationship? A bad habit? What can’t we let go of? Linus at some point realized that he outgrew his blanket and you saw him with it less and less. All the interventions in the world did nothing for him, one day he just figured it out.

I talk to people a lot about letting go. It’s probably one of the hardest things for us as humans to do emotionally. It’s hard to close the chapter when you feel like you’re not finished with it yet. We convince ourselves that our blanket is good for us. We rationalize the bad and search for the few good things that it brings into our lives. We look at other people and wonder how they can stay in bad relationships, smoke cigarettes, or do drugs, and why all the intervention we’re doing isn’t working on them. We criticize them for holding on to their blankets while our own is firmly attached to us.

The hardest part of helping someone let go is understanding that in the end it’s up to them. They’re going to have to commit to the change. If this doesn’t happen then outside of kidnapping and taking them to a detox clinic the change will never come. All you can do is offer suggestions and be
there for them. Stealing their blanket doesn’t work, eventually they find it.

When it comes to getting rid of your own personal blanket it becomes even harder. I don’t know when it happened, but one day I told myself I’m going to do my best to no longer sweat the small stuff. I have always been a pretty positive person but I would let little things make me angry. I started looking at each day I was given as an opportunity and no matter what happened during it I was going to try and make the most of it. My blanket was being negative and I threw it away on my own.

Be honest with yourself figure out what you’re holding onto in your life that you need to let go of, and then just do it.