#{ mark }

there’s a particular courage in walking away from the thing that built and shaped you and in being able to leave something so grand and safe to find something bigger than your current self. most people never do that. i am incredibly moved that he has chosen that journey: to leave the thing that made him, so he can become the person he know’s he was always meant to be.

his departure isn’t him just leaving, but it is him also modeling a kind of self-trust people hardly ever have. people often think courage is that cinematic moment where someone stands up and declares their new path to everyone, but, truthfully, it is often a quiet, fearful, and private decision where you turn it over in your head a million times and have a million conversations over the same topic over and over again with loved ones before you decide you’ll eventually have to loosen the grip on what’s defined you to find what’s waiting for you.

letting go of something big isn’t just courageous either, it’s painful, lonely, and disorienting, and i can only imagine what it feels like when the life you’re letting go of is what’s been the majority of your life AND career.