printable worksheet · about 10 minutes
What I'm leaving, what I'm keeping: a worksheet for big changes
Wellness Café · Printable worksheet
What I'm leaving, what I'm keeping: a worksheet for big changes
For the season between what was and what's next: name what you're leaving, what you want to keep, and one small step for this week.
Big changes, a move, a new job, a separation, a graduation, a diagnosis, a country, rarely feel clean. There's usually grief and relief in the same hour, and people around you may only have room for one of those. This worksheet makes space for both. There are no right answers, and nothing here has to be finished today.
Before you start
- Mixed feelings are allowed, you can be grateful and grieving at once
- Write in fragments if that's what comes, one honest word beats a tidy paragraph
- Skip anything that stings too much today, the lines will wait
- If something rises while you write, pause, breathe out slowly, and come back when you're ready
What I'm leaving behind
Every transition has a cost, even the ones you chose. Naming what you're losing isn't being negative, it's being honest, and honesty is what lets the grief move instead of settling in.
The routines, people or places I'm saying goodbye to:
The version of me that belonged to that chapter:
What I'll genuinely miss, even if I never say it out loud:
What I'm relieved to be done with:
What I want to keep with me
You don't have to start from zero. Some things from the old chapter deserve a seat in the new one, values, rituals, friendships, parts of yourself that took years to grow.
The parts of me I want to carry forward:
The relationships I want to tend, even from a distance:
The small rituals that keep me steady:
What this chapter taught me that I don't want to lose:
What I'm hoping for, and what I'm afraid of
Hope and fear usually travel together. Writing both down keeps either one from quietly running the show.
What I'm quietly hoping this change makes possible:
What I'm afraid might happen:
If the fear came true, what I would actually do:
Who I can be honest with about both:
One small step this week
Not a plan, not a reinvention, one step small enough that you'll actually do it. Transitions are crossed in inches, not leaps.
The one small thing I'll do this week:
When I'll do it (a real day, not "sometime"):
Who or what will help me follow through:
Notes
Anything else you'd like to hold onto:
A gentle reminder
You don't have to feel ready to be ready. Most people arrive at big changes half-packed, emotionally speaking, and that's not a failure, it's just how humans move through the world. Wherever you are with it is a fine place to start.
If this change has stirred up more than you expected, old grief, anxiety, a wobble in who you think you are, that's worth talking through. Bring the page to a session, or start with a free consult.
Written by Tanika Newman, Registered Social Worker. This guide is education, not therapy or medical advice. In a crisis, call or text 988 or call 911.