It has been a year since I left my old job
#Storytime
End of January 2022 and after almost a decade I left my old job as a Senior Finance Business Partner at my old company. With it, I left the safety of recurring income, the comforts of office space, knowing what to work on every day but also work that did not fulfill me, a place where I burnt out, less flexibility in work time or when to take time off, less room for experiments and creative ideas and not to mention the immense psychological contract that is sometimes being created in the corporate world.
This psychological contract is co-created between employees, co-workers, the manager, and the company, never written down but still has a great influence on how people show up at work. It also can bring a different form of pressure and fear of “if I don’t do overtime I will get fired”. At least that’s the kind of mentality I experienced and observed with others, even if they didn’t speak up about it. There is always a sense of “if I don’t take my laptop with me on holiday or if I don’t reply immediately the company will die”. (Even though of course it never would, especially not the bigger ones).
It takes a while to learn that this is not true, probably mainly due to folks trying to hide and ignore that this is not the case. Lives are devoted to a job complained about on a daily basis, because of the comforts mentioned in the beginning.
But after I started my coaching journey and was being coached myself, I realised this is not who I am and want to be. I want to love what I do, and I want to do it on my terms. I want ease, flow, creative outlets, fulfilment, and living up to my values, and most of all: I want to have a real impact on others.
My purpose is to inspire others and light up a spark within them to unlock their full potential to make their dreams come true.
Seeing others rise above their limits, challenges, and obstacles toward true happiness, makes my heart sing. When my clients start smiling in a way they have never smiled before, from a place of genuine happiness and love of life, that’s what I am here for. That’s what I want to spread and make possible in this world, because it is a symbol of them connecting to their truest self, finding peace and ease in this experience.
It is also what I found for myself going on this path, since leaving corporate. I do what I love, and love what I do. My time from that last day on was and still is devoted to only doing what fits my purpose, saying yes to opportunities where I know I can lead with my heart. If I can’t say yes with my heart, I will gracefully step back and let it go for someone else to find in the hope it may make their heart sing instead.
This might be the biggest lesson learned since I left corporate.
But so many other things happened, and there are so many more reasons to celebrate: finishing certification as a coach, completing the positive psychology training and expanding to mental fitness coaching, reaching over 150 hours of coaching, and working with clients from around the world, starting to work for emei and supporting senior leadership teams making a difference for and with their teams, embarking on the personal trainer adventure to make another deep passion of mine into something more, the list goes on.
At this point, I am so incredibly grateful and feel a deep sense of appreciation for myself but also for everyone else who has joined me on this journey. This is a collective experience, and I strongly believe that even if short, we were meant to meet and influence our lives in one way or another.
I see you and I appreciate you.
Thank you for being here!
NamaStay GOING MY WAY
JD
