The Corporate Crash Out: #6

Well, mine is a doozy, so buckle up. I have spent the last 2 weeks on vacation with my partner. We have spent slow mornings watching the sun rise with coffee, afternoons hiking in places that don't look real, and ending our nights not glued to our phones.

And I can't stop feeling like this is actually how life is supposed to feel, slow, relaxed, and at ease.

I came to a very real realization during my time away, I no longer have a dream job, I have a dream life, and that life doesn't center around a slack notification.

and that feels illegal?

I had this big fat aha moment where I realized I built my life around things I was told to want, not that I actually wanted.

I just had this holy shit moment, where I realized maybe i'm not a career girlie, but maybe I'm a life girlie.

I don’t think I care about climbing the corporate ladder anymore.

And before the LinkedIn motivational speakers start sweating through their ring lights, calm down, I'm not saying this has to be your thing too.

I’m not anti-work. I’m not anti-ambition. I’m definitely not anti-money. But the idea that my life’s purpose is to keep collecting increasingly stressful job titles while the world actively feels like it’s on fire? HARD PASS.

I'm anti burn out to barely survive and never enjoy anything.

It's forced me to spend alot of the last few days trying to determine what all of this means, but i think i have an idea of where to go from here, and boiiiiiiii i can't wait to share with y'all.

For years we’re taught that the goal is upward. More responsibility. More pressure. More money. More Power. More meetings where someone says “circle back” like it’s a personality trait.

Less boundaries. Less time. Less You.

Nobody stops to ask:

Do you actually want the life that comes with that ladder? Because the higher you go, the more your time stops belonging to you.

Your mornings. Your evenings. Your nervous system. I’ve realized I’m far more interested in protecting my peace than protecting a title.

Turns out the dream might not be “Chief Something Officer.” The dream might just be a life where work fits inside your life, and you get to spend time in th world you created, and be present inside of it.

One of the most underrated life skills is learning how to regularly audit your own life.

Not your performance review. Not your productivity. Your actual life.

Do you even like what you've built? Do you take time to stop and actually enjoy it?

The truth is, the goals you set five years ago might not make sense for the person you are today. But a lot of us keep chasing them anyway.

Out of habit. Out of ego. Out of fear that changing direction means we somehow failed. Let me tell you something that might save you a couple of crash outs--

You’re allowed to realize that something you once wanted desperately… actually doesn’t fit anymore.

Careers. Cities. Countries. Relationships. Entire identities.

If you never stop to check in with yourself, you end up running on a treadmill that no longer leads anywhere you actually want to go.

The rat race is exhausting, but it sucks even more if. you don't realize you're runnning it.

And that’s how people wake up at 35 with a beautiful LinkedIn profile and absolutely no idea who they are, and even less idea who their people are.

Life audits should be normal.

Ask yourself:

Does this still serve me?

Does this still energize me?

Does this spark joy

A lot of people are exhausted not because they’re weak…but because they’re still carrying goals that no longer serve their purpose.

And nobody told them they were allowed to put them down.

Let’s just say the quiet part out loud, what the actual F is going on?

The world is a lot right now. It’s chaos. So if work isn’t the center of your universe right now? That's okay, the universe feels. a little shaky these days anyway. You’re just responding to reality.

For a long time corporate culture sold us this idea that work should be the primary organizing force of our lives.

Your worth. Your identity. Your routine. Your social circle. Your family. Your schedule.

Everything orbiting around the job, when in actuality our jobs are meant to sustain our lives, not be the center of it.

But what happens when you realize that your job would replace you in about six business days if something happened to you?

Suddenly the hierarchy shifts. Your health matters more. Your relationships matter more. Your peace matters more. Your ability to log off and go outside like a normal human being matters more.

I think a lot of us are realizing work mattered more to us than we ever matted to the. The relationship was never balanced.

We’re realizing that work can be important (or not) without being the center of our identity.

That realization might be the most mentally healthy thing happening in the workforce right now. Because when work stops being your entire life…you finally have space to be present in the world you've built for yourself.

If you’re realizing the career plan you built five years ago no longer fits the life you want now…

That’s exactly what Crash Out With Me coaching is for.

We figure out what’s actually burning you out, what needs to shift, and how to build a career that supports your life instead of consuming it.

Less performative productivity. More intentional living.

Learn more or apply to work with me here: crashoutwithme.co

Sometimes the breakdown is actually the blueprint, and trust me, the blueprint never lies.