When Quitting is the Bravest Thing You Can Do

Most of us have been taught to honor our commitments. We’re told to follow through, keep our word, and finish what we start, even when that thing we started is quietly draining the life out of us.

But what if the bravest, most aligned thing you can do is to walk away?

The Power of a Pivot

Not long ago, my oldest child Andie found an old newspaper clipping announcing my mother’s engagement in 1953 ... to a man who was not my father.

I remember Mom talking about a serious relationship prior to my dad, but I didn't really know the details. My sister filled in the blanks: Mom met my dad while she was engaged to this other guy, and knew in her gut that she couldn’t go through with the wedding. I'll tell you, in a small town in South Carolina back in the 50's, breaking off an engagement wasn’t just a personal decision, it was a public act of rebellion. (And Mom was not really the rebellious type.) There was no Instagram to quietly change your relationship status; the whole town knew. (What did the neighbors think?)

But she did it anyway.

That took courage.

A Modern Echo

Recently, I found myself standing at a similar crossroads; not in love, but in business. For months, I’d been part of building something beautiful: Think. Act. Persist. - a program designed to help high-achieving women move from burnout to balance. My partner, Meagan, and I both believed in it deeply. We knew it was good and we knew it was something people really needed.

But as the months unfolded, our energies clashed more than they flowed. Communication felt hard. Progress felt like wading through cold mud.

 I kept thinking, Maybe I just need to push harder. 

Or maybe the discomfort I was feeling meant I was being stretched in some important way. There was an important lesson to learn. But underneath that reasoning was another truth, a quieter one that I didn’t want to admit: our alignment wasn’t off because we needed to grow.

It was off because we were off. We were on different frequencies.

I stayed far longer than my intuition wanted me to, out of loyalty, hope, and the fear of letting her down. I told myself I couldn’t quit, not after we’d invested so much.

Here’s the Twist

When Andie found the engagement clipping, my sister did a little research on her own and found Mom's ex's obituary. She sent it to us with the comment:

"He got over it."

Turns out he married a woman who became the love of his life. They had four children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. He met his wife shortly after my mom dumped him. They stayed very happily married for the rest of his life. Mom's choice, painful as it was, created the conditions for two families, two entirely different lifetimes, to unfold exactly as they were meant to. And, I wouldn't be here if it hadn't unfolded that way.

Listening to the Inner Knowing

For me and Think. Act. Persist., when I finally did decide to step away I felt immediate relief: the kind that starts deep in your body before your mind can catch up. It wasn’t relief because I was giving up.

It was relief because I was finally in integrity with myself again.

Meagan was understandably upset at first. But soon after, she found a new partner whose energy matches hers beautifully. Their adapted version of the program appears to be thriving, and it’s absolutely perfect for her.

Meanwhile, I’ve been able to pour my heart fully into Flying Changes Coach and EquineFlow, the work that lights me up and aligns perfectly with my values, strengths, and purpose.

Just like my mother’s brave decision seventy years ago, what felt like a rupture turned out to be a realignment for both of us.

The Lesson Beneath the Leap

Sometimes, the path forward requires an act of letting go.

It’s not failure. It’s discernment. 

It’s the art of listening deeply enough to know when persistence becomes resistance; when staying loyal to something means betraying yourself.

The trick, of course, is learning to tell the difference between fear and intuition. Fear screams in your mind; intuition whispers in your bones. 

Fear says, “What will they think if I leave?” 

Intuition says, “You already know this isn’t it.”

When you choose to honor that whisper, you create space for everyone involved to find their right alignment, even if it stings in the moment.

Sometimes the most loving, courageous thing you can do is walk away, not because you don’t care, but because you finally do.