When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

Though widely attributed to Lao Tzu, this line reads like a modern self-development aphorism that paraphrases themes associated with Daoist thought: the loosening of rigid self-concepts, ambitions, and socially imposed identities in order to align with one’s deeper nature and the Dao (the “Way”). In that Daoist frame, “letting go” suggests releasing attachment to fixed ideas of who one is—status, ego, certainty, even deliberate striving—so that change and growth can occur organically. The second clause points to potentiality: when the self is not clung to as a finished product, one becomes receptive to transformation, spontaneity, and a more authentic mode of being.