I thought I was evolving.

I was managing the version of myself I’d already outgrown.

Still tracking it.

Still maintaining it.

Still keeping it alive.

I used to keep me safe.

That’s the hard part.

Letting go of what worked.

Even if it’s no longer working.

I noticed how much of my system was still built

around a pressure that doesn’t exist anymore.

The story changed.

I didn’t change the story about myself.

I stayed loyal to the loop that protected me.

To the cadence that made sense

when I needed it to.

Now it’s costing me.

Change isn’t a breakthrough.

It’s the courage to stop holding together

what no longer needs to be held.

To say: that story saved me.

It doesn’t serve me now.

I don’t need a new frame.

I need a new move.

I don’t have to be ready.

I don’t have to feel ready.

I have to be willing to leave the known.

Leave the certainty of I know.

Change doesn’t ask for permission.

It waits for my action.