12/04/2026
Anyone else skipped this part… and then felt the overwhelm?!
We see it a lot in our work.
We’ll be working with a mentoring client who is stepping into something new, a bigger role, or an extra role, a different level of responsibility. They’re excited, curious, nervous… and then somewhere in the conversation, there’s a pause. You can almost feel the penny drop.
Suddenly the conversation shifts from the promise of the new shiny thing… to the trade-offs of the old, slightly outgrown things.
It looks like a decision about workload, but it often runs deeper than that.
We find that while most people prepare for what they’re stepping into.
Very few prepare for what they’re stepping away from, yet that can be the hardest part.
The new thing is usually about opportunity.
The old things tend to be about identity.
Letting go of something that's part of our identify often requires a renegotiation of what we're ready to stop carrying… and who we're allowed to stop being...
Well… ah that got deep, fast!