"For a long time, I told myself I was choosing stability. I was working at a prestigious university, doing work that mattered, surrounded by smart people. The role had legitimacy and the paycheck came on the same day, in the same amount, every month. The path forward was clear and the structure well-defined. At that point in my life-raising very young kids-that predictability felt not just comforting, but necessary. My work mattered, and it held up easily when I described it to others."
"Not in a dramatic, crisis-driven way. There was no single bad boss or catastrophic moment that forced my hand. It was quieter than that. A low-grade, persistent sense that I was out of alignment with myself. A feeling that I was expending more energy maintaining the arrangement than the work itself required. The tricky part was that I already knew what I wanted. I wanted to leave and build my own business full-time. I had started it on the side."
I held a stable, prestigious university job that offered legitimacy, routine paychecks, clear advancement, and predictability while raising young children. Despite the comforts and social validation, I felt quietly unhappy and out of alignment, experiencing a persistent low-grade dissatisfaction. I had started a side business that energized me, produced clients, and made me feel more like myself than my academic role had in years. I already knew I wanted to leave and build the business full-time, yet I stayed far longer than necessary, rationalizing the choice as caution and responsibility rather than confronting deeper fears and inertia.
Read at Fast Company
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