A new direction does not require contempt for the road that brought you here.

Leaving something often comes with an urge to run it down. Contempt makes the decision feel obvious, and an obvious decision is easier to defend to other people and to yourself at midnight. The cost is that you lose the honest account: the old job taught you something, the old city held real years, and the person you were then made the current choice possible.

Before you close a chapter, write a short list of what it actually gave you. Say one of those things out loud to someone who was there. You can leave without a verdict, and the leaving tends to hold better when you do.