Unknown: 0:00

Announcer,

Erin Geiger: 0:10

welcome to Clover. This week, I wanted to talk about what I'm not taking into the new year. Every year as January begins, the conversation sounds familiar, new goals, new habits, new versions of ourselves, more discipline, more productivity, more ambition. And honestly, I do feel called toward more more clarity, more depth, more capacity for the work and relationships that matter most to me, what I'm paying attention to, what has to be a release to make room for that expansion, though. So growth requires space, and space comes from deciding what's worth carrying forward and what isn't. So this episode is an invitation to reflect alongside me, to notice what you're bringing into the new year and what you're intentionally leaving behind. So the next season has room to unfold. We don't often talk about subtraction when we talk about leadership, especially for women, many of us learned early that being capable meant being available, that strength looked like self sufficiency, that leadership meant carrying more and doing it without complaint, over time, over carrying becomes second nature. We hold emotional labor, we manage uncertainty for others, and we absorb responsibility that was never formally assigned, and it's reinforced. We're actually praised for endurance. The cost is subtle. It shows up as fatigue and that we doesn't resolve, which is with rest. It shows up as resentment we talk ourselves out of acknowledging it sucks. It shows up as like a head sense of heaviness that follows us into a new year. What I've learned is that carrying everything eventually narrows your leadership. You become reactive instead of responsive. You protect capacity instead of creating it. Letting Go restores that range. It gives you access to creativity, to patience and long term vision. Again, growth requires discernment, especially when it asks us to decide what strengthens us and what quietly weakens us. Over time, I want to share five things I'm choosing not to carry forward. These are mine. You may recognize them for yourself. You may not. The first one is over explaining my decisions, I am allowing my choices to stand without constant context or defense. Clarity doesn't need justification. The second one is guilt based availability. Anybody else familiar with that one responding out of obligation. It has a cost. Presence feels different when it's chosen rather than compelled. The third one is performing certainty. There's a space for not knowing. There's credibility in saying. I'm still thinking about this. The fourth one is hustling as a measure of worth. I'm no longer using exhaustion as evidence of value. Sustainability matters more than output, and the fifth one is other people's urgency. Not everything needs an immediate response. Discernment includes timing. So as you listen like kind of notice what resonates often, the things we're ready to release are the ones we've been carrying automatically. It's not clear if it's not if it's not clear to you what you're ready to set down. There are a few places to look so pay attention to that feeling of resentment. It often points to a boundary that wants acknowledgement. Notice the difference between what drains you and what stretches you. Growth can be uncomfortable without being depleting. Listen for moments where obligation overrides alignment. Sometimes this shows up in small ways, a meeting you dread would keep attending a role you've outgrown, but you haven't named it yet. A pattern of saying yes and immediately feeling the weight of it settle in your body. Your body often recognizes completion before your mind does what you're ready to release usually isn't loud, but it's persistent. It keeps returning until you're willing to listen. Here's a simple practice. You can try name the thing you're leaving behind, be specific, acknowledge what it offered you, because most things we carry served a purpose at one point, then make a conscious decision not to bring it forward. Just clarity. You're not erasing it. You're just leaving it where it belongs. So as you move through these first days of January, you don't have to rush to define the year. You're allowed to move forward thoughtfully, to choose expansion with intention, to carry less without shrinking your vision whatever you're leaving behind. It doesn't need a dramatic ending. It can simply just stay there before you. Move on with your day. Take one breath, just one and let that be enough for now. Thank you for spending this time with me. I'm glad you're here, and I'll see you next week. You.