I felt my jaw drop when I checked my inbox and saw the email from Stacey, the founder of Hybrid Mom. In a heartfelt note to her readers, she explained the time had come for her to move on. I can’t begin to know the mixed emotions she must be feeling. But when she said, “People change, situations change and life continues,” I understood.

Ever since I got the news, I’ve been thinking a lot about change. Whether we embrace it or think it really sucks, change is inevitable.

I think that’s why Hybrid Mom, as a magazine and as a community of women, is so important. We no longer live in a time where people keep the same job until retirement. We have so many choices: work, stay home, do both. Have children. Don’t have children. Build a career. Change careers. Start our own business. The choices don’t end there, but hopefully, you see where I’m going.

Our path in life is not decided for us, we get to have a say. But making choices and making changes can be scary. It often requires leaping off the edge with no guarantee of a net below. Sometimes our heart, a “gut” feeling, dictates the change. Sometimes external factors, our circumstances, point us to the door.

We must constantly reconcile who we were then, who we are now, and who we are becoming. I realized this in a whole new way, when I was reading the blog of another woman I admire. She was born in the baby boomer generation. She, like Stacey, started a very successful magazine. She, too, helped it grow into something great. A few years ago she sold her magazine and continued to work there. And now, she’s asking out loud, should she stay or should she go?

I’ve taken a few leaps of faith in my life, and I support women who trust their instincts. I believe we have an inner knowing, a secret superpower that allows us to reign supreme in a male-dominated world. Despite this, I’ve realized I was wrong about something. I thought as I continue to grow older and wiser, going with my gut will get easier. But maybe it never does.

Every time I make a change, I risk the very things I value: money, security, identity. But I also wonder--what do I risk if I play it safe? I’m at the craps table and whether I’m in the hole, I’ve made a few bucks or I’m winning big, I ask myself, should I roll the dice again? There are no easy answers and no guarantees. But it doesn’t mean I have to walk blindly into my future.

As Hybrid Moms, I hope we continue to trust ourselves, finding comfort in the fact that no matter where we go, we take our “superpower” with us. After all, it’s gotten us this far.

Bio: Angie Mizzell is a writer living in Charleston, SC. Her essays have been published in Skirt! magazine and the Post and Courier. Follow her blog at www.angiemizzell.com and connect on Twitter @angiemizzell.