2018 was a wild ride for me. In December 2018, I hit my five-year anniversary as an employment law attorney, despite dreams of leaving my career for the past three years. I didn’t understand how someone could just quit their job. Shouldn’t you have some laid-out plan or something first? Well, it turns out that’s exactly what you do. You quit. I reached my breaking point in October of 2018 and my husband and I agreed that I would not enter 2019 as a practicing lawyer. Things had gone on for too long and they were not improving. From mental breakdowns to anti-depressants to not having a period for two years, it was time to move on. This lifestyle wasn’t healthy for me, my marriage and sure as hell did not match up with my actual desires in life. Without much of a grand plan, but enough in our savings to keep us stable for a few months, we committed that I would put in my resignation in early December.
When I say that I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t, but I did lay a foundation. For the past two years I had been building my own business in hopes that it would make my career transition easier. I started a wellness blog, became certified in holistic nutrition, began coaching health clients and worked with various wellness brands to develop copy, recipes and other content. So really, I shouldn’t give all the kudos to the law firm for my mental breakdowns, but instead to the fact that I was billing 1850 hours a year and somehow still squeezing in 25 hours of additional work each week for my side hustle. When it came time to quit, I wasn’t making enough through my side business alone to meet our financial needs, but we felt comfortable that my business would continue to grow if I was able to dedicate more time to it. We were also sure that while building my business, I would find another company that matched my interests and passions in enough time where we wouldn’t completely blow through our savings. At any rate, one of the main reasons we decided I could quit my job and jump into the unknown was because we didn’t have kids at the moment, so it would be a good time to quit my job and change career paths. For some reason, that really gave me a lot of peace. My husband has a stable job, we have some savings and we don’t have any little ones relying on us. Let’s do it.
Remember how I mentioned I didn’t have a period for two years? Between the crippling amount of stress I was under and a few other health issues, I have not had a period since I got off the pill in August of 2017! No period meant no ovulation. Or so I thought. My OB told me that getting pregnant naturally was not going to be an option for us, so when we were ready to get pregnant, we would need to try other measures such as IUI. My husband has wanted kids since we got married more than three years ago. I wasn’t so ready and told him we could try once I felt like I was in a good place with my business. After all, I just quit my job so that I could focus on growing it!
I put my resignation in with the firm on December 12th. Best day of my life! I never felt so free and confident in my decision. A few days later, however, I felt some serious changes occurring in my body. It started with my breasts and nipples. They doubled in size overnight and they were so sore to the touch that I couldn’t wear a bra. Next, my early morning workouts, typically the best part of my day, became an absolute chore. I couldn’t get up when my alarm went off and when I did, damn did everything feel hard! I remember telling my husband that I thought I had mono or the flu. These symptoms persisted, but given the conversations with my doctor and the fact that I never had a period, the thought that I was pregnant never crossed my mind. Instead, I thought that perhaps I was finally getting my period back or that I really did have the flu or mono.
Also around this time, I decided if I was going to work from home, I needed a buddy to keep me company and encourage me to take breaks during the day. I’m a bit of a workaholic, so I needed a reason to step away from my work and recharge. We had been interested in a puppy for some time, so when we found out a litter of Goldendoodles had just been delivered nearby with only one left, we knew it was our chance. This would be our first pet together, but we were confident we could handle all that came with being puppy parents. We scheduled our visit for December 29th. This was a little spontaneous for us, but we thought, “why not?!” Plus, being the solid millennials that we are, we joked that this would be perfect practice for parenting.
December 29th was my last day with the firm. I woke up early and brewed some coffee. The familiar smell of coffee brewing suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. I ran into the bathroom and vomited everything I had in me. “What the f*ck?” I thought. I told my husband there is absolutely no way I can be pregnant, but we should rule it out just in case. On our way home from our puppy visit, we picked up an at-home pregnancy test and my favorite bottle of red wine, because naturally we were celebrating my final day of work. I took the test right when we got home to put that possibility to bed. Five minutes later I found out that I would most definitely not be celebrating with a glass of red wine. I was in complete shock when two solid pink lines showed up. “What have we done?” I thought. “This is not good! I’m scared!” My mind was racing a mile a minute with fearful thoughts.
Fast forward and I am now 10 weeks pregnant! We have an adorable little pup named Rebel who keeps us on our toes. I’m working for an incredible wellness company freelancing as a content creator for different health brands and have successfully grown my health coaching business. Embracing the unknown and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable has led me to my happiest self. If you’re in need of some inspiration to create the life that you want, please go for it—even if there are some big surprises along the way, it will be worth it.
