Some things in life were meant to be held onto.
But others? They had to be released.
Akutu was learning that letting go wasn't always about loss—it was about making space. For growth. For peace. For the future.
And as she stood at another turning point in her life, she knew it was time to release the things that no longer served her.
The first thing she had to let go of was guilt.
For years, Akutu had carried the weight of decisions she made in the past—things she could have done differently, people she could have treated better, opportunities she had been too afraid to take.
But dwelling on the past wasn't going to change it.
One evening, she sat alone in her room, staring at the list of regrets she had scribbled in her notebook.
Then, in a moment of clarity, she picked up a lighter and watched as the paper curled into ashes.
It wasn't magic. It didn't erase the past.
But it was a start.
The second thing she had to let go of was control.
For years, she had tried to plan every detail of her life, afraid that if she let things unfold naturally, everything would fall apart.
But life was unpredictable.
When she was invited to a writers' workshop in another city, her first instinct was to say no. It wasn't in the plan.
But Sarah shook her head. "Akutu, for once, just take the risk."
So, she did.
She boarded the bus, feeling a strange sense of freedom.
For the first time, she wasn't forcing life to fit her expectations.
She was letting life happen.
The hardest thing to let go of, however, was people.
Michael had become a good friend again, but Akutu knew that some friendships had seasons.
One evening, as they walked through campus, Michael turned to her.
"I got accepted into a master's program abroad," he said.
Akutu felt her heart sink, but she smiled. "That's amazing, Michael."
He nodded. "It is. But it also means I'm leaving soon."
They stood in silence for a moment.
And then, Akutu exhaled. "I'm happy for you."
Because letting go didn't mean forgetting.
It just meant accepting that some chapters had to end for new ones to begin.
The pulleys of life had shifted once again.