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I did everything “right.”
I chased success like my life depended on it. Because for a while, it felt like it did.
Growing up in a trailer park while surrounded by friends who lived in big, beautiful homes, I believed that money was the answer. Money meant security. It meant power. It meant no more shame about where I came from or what I didn’t have.
So, I worked. Hard.
I climbed the corporate ladder, became the first female VP in a 300-person marketing organization at a Fortune 500 company, and worked 60-plus hour weeks. I surrounded myself with high-achievers and successful people. And I kept going-because isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?
Until one day, my brain stopped working.
Not just exhaustion. Not just stress. A full-body, full-brain shutdown. Emails didn’t make sense. Conversations felt like static. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t process, couldn’t function.
And the scariest part was that I thought I was broken.
The world had taught me that stopping meant losing. That slowing down meant failure. That if I wasn’t available, responding, producing—someone else would be, and they would outpace me.
That moment—what I now call my breakdown-to-breakthrough—forced me to reevaluate everything.
I didn’t quit my job. I didn’t walk away from ambition. But I did something harder: I started a journey to redefine success.
I started making decisions that prioritized my well-being, not just my work output. I stopped believing that exhaustion was the price of ambition. And I finally understood that constantly pushing myself harder wasn’t leading to more success—it was leading to a complete shutdown.
What I learned (and what I want you to know):
1. Success isn’t just about what you achieve—it’s about what you don’t sacrifice.
If you’re grinding yourself into the ground, what’s the point?
2. You don’t have to break to prove you’re working hard.
Burnout isn’t proof of effort. It’s a warning sign.
3. Ambition isn’t the problem—how we define it is.
You can be wildly successful and still protect your energy, your time, and your sanity.
So if you’re reading this, wondering why—despite all your effort—you still feel exhausted, stuck, or empty, I want you to ask yourself:
What am I chasing? And at what cost?
It took me decades of hustle culture, caffeine-fueled all-nighters, and convincing myself that “just one more email” wouldn’t kill me…until my brain finally waved the white flag. Ambition and balance need to coexist because burnout is a slow-motion train wreck.
The great news is that you don’t have to wait until you’re crying in your car outside a Starbucks to start making changes. You can redefine success right now—on your own terms, in a way that fuels you rather than fries your last functioning brain cell.
And trust me, it’s worth it.
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