A client recently said this to me. She told me she felt ridiculous even bringing it up.

On paper she had everything she’d worked for. Title, salary, the kind of stability her parents could only dream of. And yet Sunday evenings came with dread and a heaviness in her chest as she thought about the week ahead.

What scared her most was realizing she had built her life around someone else's definition of success, and had been living this way so long that she didn’t know what her own definition of success looked like anymore.

If any of this feels familiar, let me say this clearly. You’re not broken.

There is a tendency to feel guilty or ungrateful. To assume wanting more means something is wrong with you. In my experience, that feeling is rarely the problem. It’s usually the signal.

You’ve likely been living based on other people's expectations. At some point your inner knowing wakes up and says “this is not for us.” We have a different definition of success and we’re tired of suppressing it.

That moment is not a verdict on your character. It’s information. An invitation to get curious about what your own definition of success might be.

What I’ve noticed across dozens of these conversations is that the discomfort isn’t weakness. It’s your system telling you something essential has shifted. And almost every time, once someone gives themselves permission to look inward, the real clarity comes faster than they expected.

If you’re feeling that quiet dread, try this. Give yourself thirty minutes this week, alone and uninterrupted. Ask yourself the following questions. Then write whatever comes up:

• If you could wake up tomorrow and do any job in the world, what would you do?
• What did you want to be when you were a child?
• What career idea keeps returning to you, no matter how often you push it away as impractical?

When I walk clients through questions like these, something almost always reveals itself. Not a perfect five year plan, but a pattern. Clues about the kind of work that would feel more honest and alive.

What part of your current success story feels like someone else wrote it? Send a comment or DM by clicking on the button below. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind.