You cannot carry every version of yourself into every season.

Different periods of life require different versions of you, and some of what worked beautifully in one will actively obstruct the next. The self-reliance that got you through a difficult time may prevent closeness later; the ambition that built something may need to make room for something else. Letting a version go is not a rejection of who you were. It is just acknowledging that the season changed.

Ask what served you well before and is now getting in the way. Be respectful about it, since it probably saved you at some point. Then set it down deliberately rather than waiting for it to fail.