How a Call Today Reminded Me of Why I Left The Corporate World

When I first started my corporate career I jumped at any opportunity to learn new skills or enhance existing ones.I was that annoying student screaming out; pick me, pick me! Tackling a new challenge was both exciting and terrifying and I learned a ton about business, leadership and myself during those moments. I loved it!

As my experience and skill set grew however, I became more selective. I wanted to continue to chase work that would align with my values of learning and massive contribution, but it became more difficult to do so.

This is when I hired a coach. Bonnie helped me gain clarity on my purpose (my why), the values I had to align with in order to feel balanced and guided me through a plan to get there.

These days, doubts still creep up about my decision to leave corporate - when faced with an unknown and uncertain future it's normal to seek the comforts of a familiar playing field where you have proven success.

And then days like today remind me of why I left. During a call this morning with a past colleague (someone I have deep respect and admiration for), the reality of the corporate world came crashing down on me. I was instantly transported to the corporate environment and I could feel my body tense up.

I realized in that instance, that while my mind wavers at times on my decision, my body has absolute certainty that I'm on the right track. My body holds the absolute wisdom and I have learned to trust it.

This is not to say that I did not enjoy my corporate life. As I mentioned earlier, I loved it. It had its challenges, as does my current entrepreneurial life, and it offered me a framework to develop my skills, work with bright and capable professionals that I may have never met otherwise and a low risk playing field to build, create and experience.

My soul today however wants something different. It wants to be challenged and stretched in completely new ways, it wants to call its own shots and build a company fully and completely aligned with my values and most cherished beliefs.