I didn’t come to this work because it was trendy. I came to it because life asked me to slow down, listen, and rebuild myself from the inside out.

I was born in North India and grew up between cultures, expectations, and identities. From a young age, I learned how to adapt, carry responsibility, and meet expectations — often before I fully understood myself. Over time, that way of living took a quiet but steady toll.

Before this chapter, my life looked very different. I spent years in high-pressure professional environments, working across business and consulting roles where long hours, constant responsibility, and performance were the norm. From the outside, everything appeared stable and successful. Internally, I felt increasingly disconnected, exhausted, and unfulfilled.

Alongside that, I dealt with ongoing health challenges — particularly chronic digestive issues that were difficult to resolve and easy to dismiss. Like many people living on autopilot, I normalized stress, discomfort, and depletion, assuming it was simply part of life. It took time to understand how people-pleasing, chronic pressure, and disconnection from the body can quietly impact health.

Burnout didn’t arrive all at once. It built slowly — through over-functioning, ignoring internal signals, and living without enough space for rest, creativity, or self-trust.