Whose Finish Line Is This

I loved my career. I want to say that clearly.

I loved the work. The rooms. The relationships. The feeling of moving forward and building something that mattered.

I changed. Not the work. Me.

I was chasing a goal a twenty-five-year-old had set. VP before 45. The right title. The right trajectory. I had stopped asking whether I still wanted to arrive.

That is not burnout. That is misalignment.

—

I ran out of road.

Not dramatically. Not in a meeting anyone witnessed. Quietly, privately, completely.

I felt like I had to amputate part of myself to get oxygen to the rest.

—

It feels like loss. The loss of the identity you built. The loss of the version of yourself who knew exactly where she was going.

Whose finish line is this?

— Keira Haley | keirahaley.com

Trust the Reader. Cut until it Hurts. Earn the Silence.

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