HEAL YOUR CAREER WOUNDS

In 2023, I started a TikTok series called “Career Wounds.” I talked about toxic bosses, micromanagers, and the weird feeling you get when you’ve left a job but don’t really recover. I talked about how to stand up for yourself and when it’s time to leave. I talked about how to stop ruminating, and how to catch yourself in a perfectionism cycle.

The more I posted, the more comments I got. “Oh my god, say less,” or “I didn’t have the name for it — but yes, career wounds, that’s what happened to me.” After hundreds of videos, I was inspired to write the book (you can watch the original TikTok playlist here).

I thought back to my darkest moments. The times when I was the most stressed out. And strangely, they were all at work. Which was crazy, because wasn’t it supposed to be “just a job?”

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In this book,

What We Believe

Your job doesn’t have to define you.

You have an identity and sense of worth outside of your job. Chasing achievements like going to fancy schools, working in big tech, making a lot of money — is great for your ego, but don’t always bring happiness. If you’ve done all of those things and still feel disenchanted or unmotivated, it’s time to look inward.

You can’t break a pattern until you understand it.

We keep repeating the same patterns over and over, until we catch ourselves. Once you see a pattern though, it’s hard to unsee it, and it provides a freedom to make different choices. If you go from the same kind of toxic job to another, you’re looking for love in all the wrong places.

You can take your power back, in big and small ways.

Don’t respond to emails late at night. Don’t volunteer for assignments that you don’t have to. Don’t take on additional work just to get a pat on the head. Start saying no. Start waiting before you respond. Don’t respond to every single Slack or Teams message.

Creativity is the cure.

Creativity is the key to your next step. Having an active imagination and a sense of “it’s possible” is what will set you free. Get back to your creative roots. Write more, journal more, exercise more, create more. Do things that aren’t tied to outcomes, but just for the joy of it.

Reinvention and pivots are encouraged.

You’re not the same person as you were before. You are wiser. You see more and know more. And the fact that you’ve withstood all this stress and tension means you’re stronger (even though it doesn’t feel like that).

My original TikTok series from 2023

Writing is a visual process

Sketching out ideas

Putting the theories together

Laying the chapters out

Starting the editing process

Writing and rewriting

This is finally happening!!!