The Year I Decided to Slow Down, and What It Cost Me

For twenty years I measured my worth in promotions, deadlines, and the size of my calendar.

It was a conversation with my friend Harold, over a meal I almost cancelled, that made me question all of it.

The decision to leave didn’t happen overnight. It happened slowly, in a hundred small moments of exhaustion I kept ignoring.

The first few months were harder than I expected. I missed the structure, even the parts I used to complain about.

What I found on the other side wasn’t a perfect life. It was a slower, smaller, more honest one — and it was enough.