You Owe It To Yourself To Walk Away (Even If You Don’t Want To)

You owe it to yourself to leave.

You know it. I know it, too.

You know how I know? Because you didn’t scroll past this title. Because you didn’t disregard the notion. Because something about the concept of leaving has been pulling at you – taunting you, leaving you searching for external validation to confirm what you already know.

Which is that you want to leave.

Maybe the logical part of you doesn’t. But the core of you does.

The part of you that always tells the truth. The part of you that knows better than you do. The part that it used to be easy to push away and play down and silence.

But that part’s been getting louder lately, hasn’t it? It’s getting harder and harder to ignore.

The part of you that knows what’s genuinely best for you, knows that it’s time to get out.

It’s time to cut your losses. It’s time to take the leap. It’s time to let go of comfort and move towards the big, messy unknown that’s going to grow you.

Because you owe yourself that growth. Even if it’s going to hurt like hell.

Even if it feels like a failure at first.

Even if it feels like taking ten steps backward in order to take one step forward in a new direction.

Even if it’s messy and uncertain and laden with the potential for failure.

You owe yourself that failure.

You owe it to yourself to get out know – while some part of you still knows you can.

Before comfort bleeds into complacency. Before the easy choice starts feeling like the only choice. Before staying becomes so hardwired into your behavior that you forget there was ever another option.

You owe it to yourself to get out now, before you’ve walked so far down the wrong road that turning back starts seeming impossible.

Because right now, you still know what you want.

Right now, you still see another side.

Right now you know exactly what you ought to be doing, even if the doing it is going to be difficult.

Right now you still see two roads diverging ahead of you.

One that you’d rather be on. And the one that you’re stuck on out of comfort.

But do not take for granted that you still see the other road.

Don’t take for granted that you still have the chance to leave now – that you aren’t too invested, aren’t too far gone, haven’t walked so far down the wrong road that you’ve forgotten there was ever a chance to turn back.

So make the choice you know you need to make.

Make it not for the person you are today, but for the person you could be five years from now.

The one who went for what they wanted and messed a lot up along the way, but who ultimately ended up somewhere better. Somewhere that mattered. Somewhere authentic and hard-earned and real.

Try to love that person more than you love yourself right now.

Because that’s a person you can be proud of.

And if you can’t say the same for the person you are today, then you owe it to yourself to walk away.