Making Room

My daughter turns 12 this weekend.
Twelve.

To celebrate, she wanted to clean out her room — to make space for her “pre-teen room.”

I had avoided this task for a while.
Maybe because part of me has been holding on to my little girl…
Blending skincare and lip gloss with Barbies and baby dolls, trying to make it all fit.

But it was time.
We spent the past weekend sorting through books, crafts, stuffed animals — tiny relics of her younger years.

She was excited. Ready.
I was anything but.

What she saw as a fun update, I felt as a quiet shift.
A closing chapter.
A new beginning.
She’s becoming... and I’m learning how to make room for that.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, I realized:
This is what leadership asks of us too.
We hold on to what once fit... roles, habits, identities, structures.
Even when we’ve outgrown them.

But growth always asks something of us.
It asks us to release.
To make peace with change.
To create space for what’s next.

That’s the inner work:
Love what was.
Let it go.
Make room for what’s becoming.

Whether you're raising a child or leading a team, the invitation is the same.
This weekend, I finally accepted it.