Despite my chosen career, I am an optimist by nature. I believe in the best of people even after seeing how complicated things can get. Like many attorneys, I have learned how to let conflict pass through me and keep moving. If I carried every disagreement, I would not last long.
But every so often, something appears that does not allow neutrality. It asks for more than professionalism. It asks for conviction.
Recently, I stepped away from a leadership role in an organization I cared deeply about. I had invested countless hours alongside people I respect, fighting for an outcome we believed was right. In the end, we did not get there and I chose to leave with my convictions intact.
For a while, I struggled to name the feeling that followed. Loss did not quite fit. It sounded too clean, like a score had been settled. Neither did anger, frustration, or sadness. What stayed with me was something quieter. It was the weight of caring deeply and still choosing to walk away.
There is disappointment in that. A sadness that effort does not always bend the outcome. But there is also a kind of steadiness. I showed up honestly. I said what needed to be said. I did not disappear when it became uncomfortable. The result was never mine to control. Only the integrity of how I stood in it was.
That distinction matters more to me than I expected.
In my work with small businesses and mission-driven companies, I see this tension constantly. The moments that shape a business rarely announce themselves as turning points. They arrive disguised as practical decisions, small compromises, or opportunities that make sense on paper. Most of the time, no one would fault you for choosing the easier route or the route that earned the most money.
What I have come to understand is that the good fight is not about choosing the easy path or winning every time. It is about recognizing the moments that define you and deciding you will be present for them. Even when the outcome is uncertain. Even when the ending is not the one you hoped for.
Walking away from that role did not feel like defeat. It felt like a reminder that values are not proven by success alone. They are proven by participation. By the willingness to stand in something difficult without losing yourself in the process.
Not every fight deserves that level of energy. But the ones that do have a way of clarifying what matters. Once you experience that clarity, trusting yourself becomes easier the next time conviction asks for your attention. You never know when that moment will arrive. When it does, I hope you recognize it and fight the good fight.
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