Chelene Knight Chelene Knight is the author of five books including Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy. She is the founder of her own creative studio, Breathing Space Creative through which she’s launched the
Thrive Coaching Program where busy creatives can learn how personal development creates the mindset needed to better manage their energy and make space for all the things they are passionate about.
www.breathingspacecreative.com
Through conversation and solitary reflection, Let It Go showcases the broad spectrum of Black realities and reveals the colourful kaleidoscope of joy and your own ways to find it. An essential book that will guide the reader to carve a new path to joy as unique as each individual.
Interviewed by Heike Lettrari
Heike Lettrari (HL): Thank you so much for Let it Go: Free Yourself from Old Beliefs and Find a New Path to Joy. There are so many things that I appreciate about this book: the conversation with the broader community of Black creatives that you guide us through and inspire readers with, the tools and resources that you created for the communal table, the structure of the book through the seasons, the forthright honesty of your own story in leading through the self-work of this book. It’s a marvel, and I don’t think I have “read” a book like this one before! It’s not really the kind of book one can pick up and read as we would other non-fiction books. It’s a doing book that coaxes and coaches and encourages participation and doing.
With all of that, my first question is, what is joy to you, and why do you think it is necessary to seek it out at this moment in time? Why was joy the necessary emotion to reach for in the self work you describe in your book? Can you tell us a bit about how you are reading the tea leaves and context of the moment that resulted in this book? Could it have been self-compassion, or happiness, or another emotion that you encourage readers to reach for?
Chelene Knight (CK): It’s crucial not only to seek joy but to deeply understand what it truly means and looks like for each of us individually. Your joy is not my joy. In a world where we’re constantly comparing ourselves to others, we risk losing ourselves in a homogenized version of life. That might sound heavy, but it’s the reality we face. So, how can we cultivate a way of living that is uniquely our own, where happiness and joy naturally emerge as by-products of our authentic self-definition? And aside from that deep work, discovering joy for yourself means slowing down … and we all need that right now.
HL: I was really caught by the title of the book. Can you explain a bit about its genesis, and the choice? A few of the thoughts I had:
1.(Betraying my own cultural locales here…) Is Chelene a huge fan of the movie Frozen, or Idina Menzel? Or more likely, Keyshia Cole for her song “Let it go“?
2. Or, 2. Intentionally open title to leave open what the “it” is that each reader needs to let go of? It leaves open a bringing of one’s own baggage to suit the journey?
3. Bit of both?
4. Other reasons I haven’t put together yet?
I admit this isn’t the first time I’ve wondered at the flexibility of the small but so so important third person singular pronoun, “it”.
CK: I appreciate the thought you’ve put into this question! The title, Let It Go, had quite a journey before we landed on it. It resonated because it felt bold and action-oriented. Letting go is a significant part of the work I do with creatives, so the title made perfect sense. The ‘it’ in Let It Go is intentionally open for each reader to define. However, I never want people to passively let go. Instead, I see letting go as a signal that something in life needs to shift. Acknowledging the desire to let something go is just the beginning of that important work.
I’ve encountered many people who ask, ‘Let it go, but how?’ Everyone is searching for that ‘how.’ But I can’t do that work for you, which is why I was clear that this isn’t a self-help book. Instead, it’s a guide meant to spark ideas and help you begin your journey of self-discovery. When you truly examine yourself and confront the things you’ve been avoiding, you won’t always like what you see. That’s what makes this work so challenging, it’s also why we make excuses and don’t try to change things … we can’t see a way forward. You have to face your mistakes, but more importantly, learn to view them as valuable data—insights that can guide you forward. This is precisely what I help people achieve in my Thrive Coaching Program which I think I started to value and see the need for even more through the writing of this book!
HL: For the Victoria Festival of Authors, you will be moderating a session called “Redefining the Modern Writer’s Journey”. The theme for the session feels both so fitting for this book, and yet also limiting, given the broad scope of the book involves personal work that goes beyond potential outputs like writing. Can you share a bit about what your vision was for this book broadly, and then more specifically its connection to speaking to modern/contemporary writers?
CK: When readers pick up Let It Go, they’ll notice that I share many of my personal experiences in a memoir-like fashion. I did this intentionally to show how these experiences shape who I am as a writer and a creative. The writing and publishing industry doesn’t often highlight the importance of self-discovery work, but I wanted to demonstrate how our creative decisions are deeply connected to our understanding of ourselves. What are our personal and professional boundaries? What drains our energy, and what revitalizes us? What should we say no to? This self-awareness is invaluable because we all lead unique lives.
In the upcoming session I’ll be moderating with the VFA, we’ll be discussing how to make a living as a creative person while preserving our energy. No two writers are alike, yet the industry often elevates a single, narrow path as the ideal. I’ve witnessed how this can lead writers to believe that this is the only route to success. I challenge this notion in everything I do, but not out of anger—rather, with a sense of curiosity and excitement. I want creatives to see the possibilities available to them, and although I’m not sure I realized that this is what I was doing when initially drafting it, that’s a big part of what Let It Go is all about.
HL: As someone from a small town who places value on community, I so appreciated the wonderful invitation into your library, your life, your guides, your conversations through Let it Go. This book demonstrates immense generosity and thoughtfulness in sharing from your own learnings and reflections, and demonstrates a gentle firmness for leading, inviting, and encouraging a reader through its pages. You asked some hard questions! Can you say a few words about the process of writing this book and calling on the community you are connected to, for strength, for resilience, for reflection, for a situated-ness?
CK: Writing this book was challenging in many ways. At times, I wasn’t even sure I was the right person to write it. And although my initial drafts are always messy as they should be, with this book my first draft felt like I was stumbling through, not fully using my voice, and honestly, it felt like I was hiding something. Fortunately, I had the privilege of working with a beta reader whose honest feedback unlocked something within me. She pushed me to go deeper and to write the story I truly wanted to tell, and that changed the entire direction of the book.
Then, my guides—those ever-powerful collaborators—began to show up. These guides were the Black writers who, throughout my career, have offered me invaluable wisdom and the momentum to keep going. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have read the works of Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, bell hooks, and Audre Lorde. Their influence is woven into my writing every day.
HL: My follow-up question to that one (or really, a part 2) is – how did the book feel *complete* to you, when the journey, the unlearnings and applying the new learnings, isn’t necessarily over yet? I think you left the door quite open at the end of the book, even as the structure of the seasons was completed. We head back into spring again for the next year and start over, and the perspective we have from the previous year will inform and change the next part of the journey.
CK: Let It Go was just one chapter in an ongoing journey. The door remains open, as this work is something we continue to engage with throughout our entire lives.
HL: Also on process – I loved the overall design of the book around the seasons and a year. I think that’s also part of what made this book a slow read, slow to progress through. This is a book that asks work of its reader. What books or models were close to your heart or in mind when you put the annual cycle together? Did organizing the book this way mirror a process from your own life that made it feel suitable to track across a year? Or was it partly practical necessity?
CK: Shape—or narrative structure— has always been a fundamental aspect of everything I write, and with Let It Go, the structure is perhaps the most straightforward I’ve ever used. Typically, the shapes in my work are more subtle, not something easily detected but rather felt. However, this book called for something cyclical and reliable. The seasons became that constant for me, representing the natural ebb and flow of life.
I wanted readers to feel that they could tuck the book away when needed and call on it again during specific seasons of their lives, especially when going through something significant. I encourage readers to revisit the book, because as we grow and evolve, our perspectives shift as well. With each reread, the book takes on a new shape, offering something different each time.
While I didn’t have specific books in mind when considering the shape of Let It Go, I was deeply influenced by how I live my life—how I value the beginning of a new season and sometimes grieve the end of one. Each cycle teaches me something new about myself, and I wanted to offer that same sense of practical reflection to my readers.
Engaging in conversations with the Black leaders featured in the book allowed me to examine myself from different angles, creating a cyclical process of self-discovery and growth.
In a world that often pushes us to rush, I’ve chosen to move slowly, to observe everything closely, and to see it all as valuable data—even the difficult parts. I want to live deliberately, focusing on the life I want rather than how it appears to others. We only get one life, and it’s important to remember that.
HL: The theme of moving more slowly in a fast-paced world is coming through strongly in your answers, and this makes sense – it reinforces one of the strong themes in Let it Go as well. But as you already acknowledge, it’s an approach that stands counter to hustle culture, go go go, and the often frantic pace/pressure of “keeping up” in the world today. Can you expand on your choice to move slowly, observe everything closely, and to see it all as valuable data? Is this an intricate part of your creative process then, and would you impart the same advice to other writers? Do you think slowing down is a necessary part of finding sanity (and success?) in the world we know today?
CK: You’ve captured the essence perfectly: it’s a choice. Unfortunately, this is the part we often overlook. Deciding to slow down and say, “I’ve had enough of hustle culture,” is challenging, but what has us believing it shouldn’t be? I made the choice to slow down after experiencing severe burnout in 2017-2018. My health deteriorated—something I didn’t openly discuss—and I began making career decisions that felt misaligned, leaving me disconnected from myself.
Slowing down gave me the space to reassess what I truly wanted. It also highlighted my powerful traits, such as being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), and introvert, and a slow processor. For me, slowing down was an act of reclaiming my power—my form of activism.
I encourage all creatives to embrace slowing down, even if it’s just by spending more time in unstructured play, which I believe is the most valuable part of the creative process. We often jump straight into drafting, which is why people frequently experience “writer’s block.” In my view, writer’s block doesn’t exist. To truly succeed in today’s world, we must slow down; otherwise, what we’re searching for might pass us by.