Growth Requires Release [Leading Forward]

April 20, 2026  |  By Kyra Shahid 
Part of the "Leading Forward: Leadership Insights with Dr. Kyra" blog series

As we approach the end the semester, we're accompanied—however briefly—by the spring equinox. The time changes, the weather teeters back and forth. We experience this collective moment of balance and rebalance between light and dark. But balance is only part of the story.

The equinox was also a turning point. There is more light ahead. Longer days. New growth. But that shift only happens because something else is being left behind.

Growth requires release.

In college, we don’t talk enough about this part. We celebrate what’s next, new roles, new opportunities, new versions of ourselves. Ascension. Graduation. Completion. But we don’t always name what it takes to get there. As we continue moving through the merge of Trotter and MESA, we are experiencing and exploring what it feels like when we outgrow a role that once fit, or let go of an identity we worked hard to build, or release expectations that we had of ourselves or one another that no longer serve us. 

I remember what it was like to be an undergrad navigating college as a first generation college student. Even now, as a director with many semesters of college under my belt, these changes can be unsettling. Because even when something is no longer right for you, it’s still familiar. Familiarity can feel like safety, like comfort, like control.

But leadership asks something different of us.

It asks us to notice when we are holding onto something out of habit instead of alignment. It asks us to make space. Not just add more. But to clear, to release, and to set the foundation for what we want to grow. As you move through this season, consider this:

• What if letting go isn’t a loss, but a necessary step toward clarity?
• What do you need to release in order to receive?

You cannot step into what’s next while holding onto everything that came before. Trees often shed before they bloom. So what can you do to make room for your next and perhaps best season yet?

— Know who you are. Then Lead Forward.

Dr. Kyra