My Story

For years now I’ve been reading stories about people that had a sudden and extreme change of career. They would go from corporate to agriculture, from employee to entrepreneur, and from safe to uncertain. And I always thought that was brave but surely premeditated. I was convinced they all had a plan and some financial resources when they started. They must’ve! How else can you do it…

Until it got me. All it takes is one moment when you zoom out and you see the real quality of your life. I was unhappy and I felt like I did not belong in my story. The long hours, high work volumes and the conflicts around me brought me to a state of almost constant fever. My body was crying for a change and so was my heart. Something did not fit.

Redefining success

So I looked back, and I saw that was a pattern. I worked very hard in almost every job I had. My first job was in PR, then freelancing during my master’s degree, to decide after marketing is more my thing. I worked in SMBs, start-ups, corporations, and in an agency. Every time I changed a job, I also changed industries, wanting to discover as much as possible.

I took on challenges wanting to learn faster, but also to prove to myself I can do it. It was fun at first. The rush of a project delivered after pulling an all-night to meet the deadline, and the appreciation for the effort…all is so attractive. And then your batteries start to notify you they are running out. Ohh, but that is not when you stop. That is just when you start getting frustrated. You stop when you learn that success is not about sacrifice, but about self-knowing.

I decided to quit my job on a Thursday afternoon, after a crazy day. My glass filled to the point it broke and spilled. I knew then I had no choice but to make a change. Then and there, not when X or if Y. I added no condition to my decision. With no backup plan, no safety funds, and no other job waiting I took a jump. Maybe because I was confident in my experience or because I felt I reached the bottom, I handed in my resignation without fear or hesitance. After almost 11 years of work, I decided I will stop for a while.