Letting Go to Grow

I was seven weeks old the first time I flew to New York.

My parents had just moved to California, but it was my dad’s 40th birthday and their family and friends—their roots—were still entirely based in New York. 

Since then, I’ve spent my life going back and forth between coasts, but Thanksgiving is always spent in New York.

When we’re in town, we’re lucky enough to stay at a family friend’s residence on the edge of Central Park (iconic view pictured above). And this year in particular, I’ve spent more time in the park than ever before.

If you’ve never been, Central Park is an 843-acre sanctuary right in the center of Manhattan. A living, breathing world of trees, rocks, water, winding paths, and hidden pockets of magic where time feels different. You could spend all day exploring the park and still only see a fraction of it. 

Every morning since being here, I’ve made it a point to walk through the park, sometimes twice… And this week, I was taken—truly taken—by how a sudden breeze would send red, orange, yellow and brown leaves swirling around me in a way that felt like I was standing inside the definition of 'fall.'

Watching the trees drop their leaves, sometimes one at a time, sometimes in a full, shimmering cascade, was for me, a message in motion:

Everything that wants to grow, must, at some point, let go.

Walking through the park brought me into deep reflection on this past year. On everything that has shifted. On everything that’s been let go…

To name a few significant ones…

I let go of a serious relationship that, at one point, I was sure was moving toward all the things…💍🎊🤱🏻
Then, not long after, I was let go from a job and a team I adored. 

Both were painful.
Both were destabilizing.

And both ended up being the exact openings I needed to step into the year I’ve just lived.

This was the year I started really following what I call my True North—the work that feels aligned with who I am, how I’m built, and what I’m here to offer. This was the year I deepened as a coach, taught 17 workshops (and counting), supported more leaders than ever, and grew into a version of myself I had been circling for years.

And none of this—not a single bit—would’ve unfolded without the initial step of letting go.

Fall in the park reminded me of these lessons: 

Letting go makes space for what’s to come.
Letting go creates possibility for what you may not have seen otherwise.
Letting go is the end of something—but the beginning of something else.

Trees must let go of their leaves if they want to grow and bloom in the coming season.

And so must we.