How the Universe Forced Me to Follow My True Purpose

Being laid off made me go full-time in my business.

A cabin in the woods. Photo by Lili Kovac on Unsplash

In late 2013, I sat in a personal development retreat in St. Pete Beach, Florida, scribbling down ideas for a potential career shift in a light blue notebook. I was there with about fifteen other women who wanted to “design their lives” in all areas.

I wrote down all the ways I could leave corporate and start my own business — everything from starting a gluten-free gift box company to becoming a life coach.

For the first time in my life, I had taken almost a week off of work to focus on myself. I had just left an unfulfilling relationship that wasn’t a good fit and had been promoted to a Director of Marketing position at the tender age of 30.

On paper, everything looked great. I was making decent money, moving up the corporate ladder…But deep inside, something else was stirring.

I didn’t love my job. In fact, it was a source of constant stress and anxiety as I worried about deadlines and whether my team would hit our quarterly goals.

I was good at it — and that just made it harder to leave. I was known as the woman who could plan and organize everything and lived in spreadsheets, but that didn’t bring me joy.