I was raised in a culture that insisted that fulfillment came from success. Growing up nerdy and bullied, achievement was the one thing that had always made me feel seen⁠—so I never questioned the story. 

Success became my North Star. I built my life around it: thriving coaching business, six-figure book deal, hundreds of thousands of followers.

People said I was living the dream. And I was—on paper. But behind the scenes, chasing achievement left me burnt out, hollow, and disconnected from a real sense of meaning. 

I pushed on this way for years, waiting for a satisfaction that never came. Then, at the peak of my career, a devastating series of emergencies opened my eyes to the painful truth: 

I’d been sold a lie of fulfillment—and in chasing it, I’d lost connection with myself, my loved ones, and my community. I had tied my identity to a pursuit I no longer believed in.

I could keep living a life I’d outgrown⁠, or I could stop chasing what the world told me to want and reorient my life around something deeper. Something more alive. 

Through the wilds of transition—through fear, identity crisis, and self-doubt—this is the story of how I left a life that looked good on paper to build a life that actually felt good.