What a Campaign Pivot Taught Me About Letting Go of Control 

When I first started this campaign, I thought I had to do everything.

 

Not because I wanted credit, but because I believed responsibility meant control. If something went wrong, I wanted it to be my fault. If something went right, I wanted to know I had built it with my own hands.

 

It took a long time—and a hard pivot—to realize that’s not leadership. That’s fear.

 

A friend once told me, “You can have everything you want, you just have to let people in.” At the time, it felt like a Hallmark card. Now I know it was a blueprint.

 

Because the campaign only began to grow when I stopped trying to be every role:

• Organizer

• Fundraiser

• Strategist

• Scheduler

• Comms team

• Volunteer coordinator

• Field director

• Everything

 

Movements aren’t built top-down. They’re built bottom-up.

 

And to build bottom-up, you have to let go.

 

Let go of perfection. Let go of control. Let go of the belief that you alone can protect the vision. Let go of the fear that if you stop holding everything, everything will fall.

 

The pivot taught me something deeper. Control is a cage. Trust is a ladder.

 

And the only way to climb is to stop carrying the illusion that you can do it alone.

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