PART 1: MY BURNOUT
From the outside looking in, I had everything together in my career: I was working at the top Ad Agencies, with some of the best brands, got promoted quickly based on my performance, made good money, and was on the path of what society deems “successful”.
What you didn’t know is that I was breaking from death by 1,000 cuts. I worked 60-80 hour weeks, had 12 bosses in 4 years, was a slave to my email, never made it to the gym, was eating frozen meals because I hadn’t made time to cook and rarely saw my friends and family because when I had any free time, I wanted to sit at home in a groutfit watching Netflix until it shamed me.
My tank was on “E” but I kept going because I loved the people I worked with, I was challenged and I thought I was doing what I was “supposed” to be doing.
Inside, I felt numb, unhappy, unfulfilled, and in “survival mode” with my career.
At one point, my body physically started to shut down – I came home crying pretty much every day, didn’t sleep and was constantly exhausted. I was burned out.
It was my body’s way of saying – NO MORE.
I allowed my career to suck the life out of me. It had become my entire life and I had lost sight of who I was and what was important to me.
I was doing society deems as “successful” because I was following the traditional path. However, it didn’t make me happy.
My now husband saw me struggling and was actually the one who encouraged me to quit.
I had no plan of what I was going to do.
I quit my job with one goal in mind – prioritize my well-being and figure out how to design my life around the things that make me happy.
I was terrified. No, petrified. Up until this point, there was a plan to life:
Go to a good college → work at the best companies → climb the ladder → etc.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t have a path to follow and that was nerve wracking. Not to mention, not having a planned income.
My identity as an adult was being the Ad gal and all of a sudden I didn’t have that. I didn’t know my identity outside of it once I quit.
<Enter my mini eat pray love moment> . I mean, honestly, one of the first things I did was grab a bottle of wine and watch the movie. As corny as it sounds, it set the stage for my mindset.
“I’m choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I’m making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
But in all seriousness, I had this burning desire to figure out how to design a career around the life I wanted personally and professionally.
It quickly became my mission.
I listened to a nauseating amount of podcasts, books, attended seminars, watched youtube videos, interviewed people, etc.
Luckily, I had saved up some money so I was able to sustain a while without an income. However, I was planning a wedding so funds went quickly – it was a vulnerable situation. I needed something to hold me over while I did the soul work, but I also needed the flexibility.I started freelancing as a Marketing Consultant while I figured out my next move.
I also decided to start this blog, “Somewhere In Between”, because I realized most of us at some point in our lives have felt in between in some aspect of our lives.
More often than not, when we’re in an undefined “between” place we are labelled as confused, in crisis, or merely an outsider.
I wanted to change that stigma.
I started the blog to celebrate the “in between”. It became a place to share unique experiences that encouraged women to embrace and help navigate the in between. From first generation experiences and multicultural relationships to career changes, it became an inclusive and supportive place for all the things in between.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this journey and how this community impacted my decisions in my career move.
Are you burned out in your career? Let me know and let’s change that.
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