Final Chapter: I Left the Job I Helped Build to Rebuild Myself

What happens after you “make it.”
When the LinkedIn title looks impressive.
When your calendar is full.
When everyone thinks you’re winning — and you’re quietly falling apart.

If you’ve read the first two chapters — where I went from teaching physics to guiding breathwork in Rishikesh, and from there to managing a 20-person tech team — welcome back.

If you haven’t, don’t worry. This chapter stands on its own.

From 2021 to mid-2024, I was deep in the trenches of startup life.

The company I helped build from scratch was growing fast. I had gone from intern to full-time, from teaching Python to managing a team of 20+. From course development to customer success, from marketing to product strategy — I touched almost every function.

Sounds exciting, right?

It was, at first.
But then came the fatigue.

I was working 7 days a week. No real weekends. No breaks to breathe. Each morning, I’d sit at my desk and give myself a little pep talk just to open the laptop.

Somewhere along the line, I realized:
I was constantly creating work… just to find joy in it.