Feeling stressed, depressed, anxious or dreaming of quitting your job to live on the beach? You could be suffering from corporate burnout.
This is part two of a three post series sharing my story of recovering from corporate burnout. Missed Part One? Read it here.
PART II: MAKE BETTER DECISIONS
In 2014 I took I life changing trip to Bali and Cambodia. It was a vacation from that last dream job, which was taking over my life, and starting to kill my spirit again.
During the 1,000 flight to Siem Reap, I read The 4-Hour Work Week and, for the first time, it clicked in my head that there was a whole other way to live.
There was no reason I needed to be in a cubicle, or an office at all, and no reason to work 40-hours a week, every single week, for the rest of my life.
I saw possibilities I hadn’t seen before, and an entire world opened for me.
So often, we’re taught to settle for mediocrity: get a decent job, work hard, be a decent person, and get rewarded with your mediocre retirement plan.
All of a sudden, it wasn’t enough.
I was DONE settling.
On the same trip, I visited Angkor Wat. It was around 4,000 degrees outside, and the air was liquid it was so humid, so I had the place to myself, save for a handful of tourists and monks.
I climbed to the top of the sacred temple and came to a window that looked out into blue skies, lush jungle and the quiet sounds of nature.
As I approached the window, I burst into tears as waves of joy washed over me.
I was overcome with an intense wave of peace, love and belonging. I felt whole. Connected.
I still get chills thinking about it.
I decided then and there to change my life, again.
I decided I would travel more and inspire others – to live their passion, to lead happier lives, to stop living to work, to question the status quo…
I particularly wanted to serve women like me. I wanted to inspire women to feel happy, healthy, and fulfilled. To know they were enough, just as they were.
These weren’t dreams. They were decisions.
I wasn’t concerned with “how” – I knew I’d get there – I just had to start.
To manifest these decisions, I made more big changes in my life.
I got really clear on how I was spending my time, money and energy. I began cutting out things that weren’t important. I started taking care of my body and getting medical treatment for what would later be diagnosed as an endocrine disorder.
I had to make massive changes, again, and it was so hard.
But it was these moments – the revelations in my travel, my committed decisions, and my making tradeoffs as an entrepreneur – that have landed me where I am, living a life I deeply love.
“It’s your decisions, not your conditions, that determine your destiny” Tony Robbins
Every choice we make as entrepreneurs have impact on our lives and livelihood.
The right choices matter. And nearly everything in life is a choice.
So often, I talk to people who claim to want to make a change in their lives but fail repeatedly.
It’s not because they don’t want it.
It’s not because they can’t do it.
9 times out of 10, it’s because they cannot or will not prioritize.
- Instead of investing time into their business, they spend hours scrolling through Facebook.
- Instead of investing money in their business, they blow it on shoes or the newest Prada bag.
- Instead of continuing to make a little progress each day, they lose momentum and give up.
- Instead of taking care of themselves, they give all of their energy away to others.
We have to decide to stop doing the things that hurt us and make better decisions.
For me, I had to give up shopping as a hobby and weekly trips to Target. I had to budget funds to pay debt and save for travel. I had to cut out gluten and reduce my sugar and take supplements and go to meetings and physical therapy and acupuncture and learn to meditate.
I had to question all of the things I knew to be true.
I was living in Portland, Oregon where you can literally go weeks without seeing the sun and I was pretty over it, so I got permission from my then boss to work remotely and spend winter in the South.
I started blogging again and created the foundation for what’s now my coaching business, though I didn’t know it at the time.
After two months in Charleston and Savannah, I found myself crying all the way home – through the entire five hour flight – and knew something was wrong. It was crazy to move across country and so I fought the idea for a year, tried to come up with alternate plans that were rational.
Then I visited Savannah again and felt home. So I moved across country by myself.
It was one of the best decisions I ever made, even if I only stayed a year.
That was when I learned to trust my gut and follow my heart over everything else.
And was a catalyst for quitting that last dream job and making new decisions.
This is part two of a three part series – you can go back to read PART ONE or move on to part three: Life Without Fear!
