@KGinKS That won't stop it and you'll lose connection to any friends and family that use it.
My advice: make sure you let them know how to contact you. Also, setup the new account and then establish a transition period of several months to move all the people that may use that account legitimately to the new one. Then delete it but better yet just stop using it. You might want something stored in it or need it in the future. After 2 years not needing it then delete if you still want to.
@danielbsmith
I'm not following. If I switch everywhere I use the old email address over to the new email address and then delete the old one.
I started a list of places I have email as part of the contact information, so far up to 17. Certainly going to take some time.