A REFLECTION ON RISK, BURNOUT, AND DEFINING MY OWN VERSION OF SUCCESS
Last year, I was interviewed and featured in Canvas Rebel, a publication celebrating entrepreneurs, artists and small businesses carving their own path. I've been meaning to share it here and honestly, the timing feels right because a year of reflection has only deepened the notes I shared.
The conversation centered on risk-taking, and looking back, my whole story really has been a series of leaps into the unknown. The risks have ranged from a solo community service trip to Honduras at 16, to leaving New York for California on instinct, to eventually walking away from a corporate career that looked like success from the outside but felt like slow erosion on the inside.
What I didn't fully appreciate when I gave that interview is how much those risks were actually acts of self-trust. Those risks were moments of adventure and resilience. And, one year deeper into coaching others through their own pivots and risks, I see every one of those leaps as me choosing alignment over security, even before I had the language for it.
The part of the interview I keep coming back to is the part about unlearning grit. For so long I believed that pushing harder was the answer. And yet, it took real burnout and eventually a yoga mat, to show me otherwise. That shift from grinding to aligning isn't just something I lived through. It's the core of the work I do with clients every day: helping ambitious professionals realize that sustainable success doesn't require you to lose yourself in the process.
If you're in a season of questioning whether the path you're on is really yours, I'd love to share a transcript of the full conversation — you can find it here. And if it resonates, let's connect.
