Things I’m Done Carrying Into My Next Chapter

There’s a shift that happens when you finally get honest with yourself.
You look at the life you’re living…
then at the life you know is waiting for you…
and you realize something in the middle has to go.

You can’t carry everything and expect to feel light.
You can’t hold on to old habits and expect a new chapter to unfold.
At some point, you have to release what’s been weighing you down.

So this season, I’m choosing to let go — intentionally, fully, and without guilt.

Here’s what I’m done carrying into my next chapter:

1. Rushing what God is still writing.

I don’t want a life built on pressure or panic. I want a life built on peace, and trust.

2. Carrying emotions that aren’t mine.

I can care deeply without absorbing everything around me. Some weight was never meant to be mine in the first place.

3. The pressure to be everything to everyone.

I’m not required to be everyone’s comfort, answer, or steady place. I can love people without losing myself trying to hold their world together.

4. Explaining myself to people committed to misunderstanding me.

My heart is clear. My intentions are pure. That’s enough.

5. Feeling guilty for choosing my own peace.

I can choose rest. I can choose quiet. I can choose myself, even when others don’t get it.

6. Old versions of me I’ve already outgrown.

The woman who survived isn’t always the woman who can lead me forward. I honor her, but I’m not returning to her.

7. Conversations that keep circling the same drain.

If it doesn’t move, grow, or deepen — I release it with grace. Stagnant energy can’t come with me.That’s a NO!

8. Pretending I’m okay when I’m not.

Honesty is healing. Vulnerability is strength. I don’t need to perform resilience.

9. My phone addiction.

There’s a nostalgia I can’t shake — the days when we went outside, sat on the porch, actually talked.
When landlines rang, and I called you back when I was done playing, life felt slower.
I want pieces of that back, so I’m choosing to unplug more and live instead of mindless scrolling.

10. Saying yes when everything in me is saying no.

My “no” is becoming a full sentence. My energy matters. My boundaries matter.

11. Waiting until I’m “ready.”

I may not have it all figured out, but the next chapter is calling, and
I’m listening.

This is my let-go list — the things I’m choosing to set down so I can walk into my next chapter lighter, clearer, and more grounded in who I’m becoming.

Maybe you have your own list.
Maybe something in you is ready to release what’s been draining you.
Maybe this is your reminder that you don’t have to carry it anymore.

“Because the next chapter?
It needs a version of you that’s unburdened, open, and no longer carrying what doesn’t belong to you.”