Are you in a life pivot?
Are you at a pivot point in your life and unsure about what comes next?
That’s where I found myself 7 years go.
I had burned out and lifed-out from decades of chasing happiness on the outside without ever connecting to my true self on the inside.
I’d spent the previous year in deep healing mode, which mostly involved learning how to hear, love, and care for myself. (BTW, this is always ongoing -- it’s not like it was a year of one and done.)
And it felt amazing to feel a greater sense of aliveness…
… but I had no idea what to do next.
When I burned out, I was running Happier as a tech company that built the Happier gratitude-sharing mobile app. (Perhaps you were one of the hundreds of thousands of people who used it?)
Because I couldn’t keep running the business, I was forced to lay off our team and shut down the app.
I felt awful, but it was the right thing to do.
So what was next?
I truly had no idea.
I knew a few things:
I didn’t want to run a tech company. I found the courage to tell myself the truth about what felt deeply good and meaningful to me, and what my gifts were, and well, running a tech company didn’t align with any of that.
I wanted to keep helping people live happier, more fulfilling lives.
I wanted to work. I felt I had a lot more to give.
But beyond that… no clue. Just a lot of fear that I wouldn’t be able to figure out. Oh, and a whole lot of shame for not scaling the Happier app to help even more people plus a giant hole where my confidence used to be.
This is a difficult and unnerving place to be:
You know that you’re at a pivot point in your life and you want to move forward, but you don’t yet have a vision for the future you want to move forward into.
And because you're facing uncertainty, your brain is loving this opportunity to shake your confidence and try to convince you that you won't figure it out or whatever you want to do won't work out great anyway.
If you’re at this pivot point now, I want you to know that as challenging as it feels, you will look back on it one day as THE BEGINNING.
The beginning of your next chapter. Your reinvention.
That’s how I see my pivot point 7 years ago: It was the beginning of my reinvention into an author, speaker, and mentor.
Although back then, I couldn’t have predicted any of it.
It took courage to face my limiting beliefs, and fears, and loosen their foundation until they became too weak to hold me in a vice.
It took many tiny and then bigger steps, more self-reflection to connect to my values and purpose, and a ton of learning, adapting, and evolving to get here.
To become a best-selling author of 2 books, a keynote speaker who travels all over the world inspiring awesome humans, and a leadership mentor who gets to fuel top performers with purpose.
To wake up every day with this deep sense of fulfillment because I get to share my unique gifts in the service of others.
It wasn’t a smooth, easy path to get here, no way. Nothing meaningful ever is.
And I won’t promise you that your reinvention will be smooth or easy.
But if you’re willing to tell yourself the truth about what you value most…
If you’re willing to unravel the limiting stories that hold you back and envision the future self you want to grow into…
And, perhaps most importantly, if you’re willing to take action and learn from the steps you take, you will craft the next chapter that you’re excited about.
I’m confident not just because I’ve done this. But because I’ve helped many awesome humans do this over the past several years.
If I had to share one piece of advice with myself 7 years ago, when I was at my pivot point, I would say this:
You can’t think your way into your next chapter. Clarity emerges from action.
Find one thing that pulls at you with enthusiasm, even if it’s a quiet whisper, and start doing it. It will be your first stroke on a canvas and the rest will emerge from there.
If you’re at a life or career pivot point, I hope this is helpful to you.
With encouragement,
Nataly