When I was in school, I had big dreams. I saw myself being very successful and running a business. I wanted to be able to take care of my family and have flexibility to do what I wanted.
Fast forward to my Bachelor years, the idea of running a business was not at the forefront of my mind anymore. I decided to focus on Hotel Management and had a busy life with studying, working, playing basketball and partying. I really don’t know how I was able to fit everything in.
And that’s when I started getting into the rat race. All I wanted was to climb the Hotel Management ladder as quick as possible. I moved from country to country, from hotel to hotel as I thought working hard would get me to the top faster.
One day, when I was 25, I woke up and couldn’t get up out of bed. It was scary. I felt like I couldn’t move and I didn’t have any energy. I was signed off for 3 weeks with a diagnosis of burnout. The recovery weeks were tough. I had to learn to walk again. Even a 20 min trip to the shop was a challenge. After about 10 days, my doctor said that if I didn’t start walking more, I would get worse. That scared me even more so I started pushing myself even harder and the more I walked, the easier it got.
This was the first turning point of my life when I decided that I needed a different career and the idea of starting a business came back to my mind.
I stayed in Hotel Management for another few years and then took an opportunity to move into corporate. I thought that things would be different. I really liked my job but soon I started feeling underappreciated and that I wasn’t doing anything meaningful. Around the same time I didn’t get the promotion for the position that I was already doing successfully for two years.
This was the second turning point when I decided that I needed to get out of corporate world and find another job. I found it difficult to change jobs as no one could offer me the same package and benefits as I was getting already.
6 months later I got sick and spent a week in bed. This was the first time when I didn’t have to work during my time off and I had a chance to reflect on my work and life in general. I realized that I didn’t want to continue like this. I wanted to feel valued and appreciated. I wanted to be able to contribute to someone’s growth and success. I wanted to do something meaningful and have a bigger purpose in life.
This was the third and main turning point. This is when I finally decided that enough is enough. I picked up a phone and called the Coaching Academy. Since then my life changed. I put all my effort and energy into getting my coaching qualification and setting up my coaching business. I left my corporate job in Autumn 2021 and when I handed in my notice it was a huge relief. I knew that now things were going to change even more and I could do what I truly love and enjoy.