Safely Exit
confidence5

Moving Forward

Whether you chose to parent, have an abortion, or place your child for adoption, you made a decision in one of the toughest moments of your life.

Pregnancy and the work you did to make a decision touched many dimensions of your whole self. Some parts of you may now need more care and attention.

Here are some practices that have helped others continue walking this path with care and steadiness.

Taking the Next Steps

1

Remember This Chapter May Still Be Unfolding

Give yourself permission to feel whatever comes up, now or later. It is common for emotions and questions to resurface over time. Feeling unsettled or tender isn’t a failure—it’s often where care and gentleness are most needed as you continue forward.

2

Keep Your People Close

If you haven’t already, try to keep connecting with people who can support you. Good friends, family, a support group, or a counselor can help you process and feel grounded.

3

Continuing On With Strength

Resilience is not about avoiding pain or difficulty. It is the ability to keep going, to adapt, and to care for yourself through life’s harder moments. You may still experience sadness, doubt, or grief, and you may also discover strength and compassion you did not know you had. As you continue, resilience can help you meet future challenges with honesty and courage.

4

Be Gentle with Yourself

This season may have involved trade-offs, uncertainty, and moments that weren’t perfect. Being gentle with yourself doesn’t minimize what you’ve been through—it acknowledges that you did the best you could with what you had. That kindness can help quiet self-judgment and make space to move forward.

5

Making Room For Acceptance

Acceptance doesn’t mean everything feels resolved or easy. It means learning how to live honestly with what has happened and where you are now. For many people, acceptance comes slowly and may include grief, forgiveness, or time. As you continue doing the hard work of being human, meaning may emerge in ways you can’t yet see.

6

Stay Rooted in What Is Greater Than You

However you understand or engage your spiritual life, lean into it now.A decision ends a chapter, but it does not end God’s presence, deeper wisdom, or steady compassion in your story. Let that presence hold what still feels unsettled. As you move forward, return to the practices that anchor you: prayer, reflection, meditation, time in nature. Not to revisit the past, but to strengthen your footing for what comes next.

EXERCISE

As You Move Forward

This journaling exercise helps you reflect on your experience, honor what you’ve been through, and gently support yourself as you move forward.

Pause for a moment. Take a breath. Then reflect on the prompts.

Find Counseling & Support

Name one quality, insight, or strength you are taking with you from this season. This is not about lessons learned in a neat way, but about something that now belongs to you.

Identify one expectation, belief, or burden that no longer serves you as you move forward. You do not need to eliminate it completely. You are simply choosing not to carry it as heavily.

Consider one value or feeling you want to intentionally make room for going forward, such as steadiness, honesty, connection, or rest.

Choose a small, concrete step that aligns with where you are now. It should feel doable and kind, not pressured or performative.

Close by reading this line to yourself:
I am allowed to move forward without having everything resolved.

note

Looking into the Future

This season is an important part of your story, but it is not the whole story. What you have experienced here does not define your worth or limit your future. There is still room to imagine, build, and shape what comes next.

stringhands

WANT TO KEEP GOING?

Unexpected pregnancy can impact many areas of your life. Every part of your life that matters to you is allowed to be considered here. Explore each one now.

Learn more
making a decision moving forward