Today I woke up realizing I’ve been in the corporate world for seven years. It was one of those early days in February 2018 when I first stepped into this world. And I couldn’t imagine where I would be seven years later.
Until then, I had been freelancing and building my own startups. But with little money in my bank account and a scattered mix of experiences across different fields, I felt like I was falling behind. My friends were buying houses and cars. They had job titles that made sense when you asked what they did. Their lives looked structured from the outside.
Me? I had tons of travel, wild experiences, and friends across the world—but nothing that fit neatly into a job title. And the scariest part? I felt like I couldn’t keep going the way I was. I wanted to try the so-called normal life—pick a city and a country, hang photos on the wall, buy physical books instead of Kindle versions, own more clothes than what fits in a carry-on, have a routine, get a steady paycheck, work under a boss I could learn from.
Seven years ago, I craved normalcy. Routine. That structured life in a neat little box.
I still remember my first year in that corporate office:
I learned so much from insanely smart people and how structured work actually works.
I woke up early Monday to Friday, and every Friday night, I went out for drinks with my new friends.
I pushed through imposter syndrome, and with resilience (and a bit of grit), I actually did a good job.
I felt at home. I had a job title that made sense. I had what felt like a solid paycheck.
But then, corporate did what corporate does best—pulling the rug from under you. One day, I got called into an office. My department was shutting down. So was my job. Long story short, I managed to move myself and my team to another department, saving all our jobs.
And from that moment on, I’ve lived in contradiction—between the safety of a paycheck and the discomfort of depending on a corporate machine that could pull the plug at any time.
Seven years later, I’m proud of my resilience. I made it this far. I survived the boring days, the repetitive routines, the pandemic working from home, the return to office life. I put down roots—okay, maybe I still don’t have photos on the walls, but I do have bookshelves full of books.
The biggest takeaway? I proved to myself that I can adapt. I can live this structured, routine-driven life:
My bank account is in a healthy place.
I’m hitting my yearly networth goals.
I have work experience that fits neatly into those corporate boxes.
But what I didn’t see coming? That after spending years craving this life, I’d spend just as many wanting to escape it. And here we are—where I’m now sure this system doesn’t make sense in so many ways, and I want out.
What’s more surprising? That I didn’t see this coming: that it’s taking me this long to break free.
And the biggest reason I stayed tangled in the corporate web for so long? The paycheck. Learning how to save, invest, and set up simple systems to make smart financial decisions—milking every bit of value from my 24 hours—has put me in a position where I can seriously think about leaving.
Because that’s the real goal—to own 100% of my time, my paycheck, my destiny. Now, I just need my AI coach to help me break through and find my direction. Whatever happens, you’ll hear about it.
And you know what? It’s Friday—a balm for all of us trying to escape the rat race.
Work Mood Tracker
On a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being terrible, 5 being awesome), today was a null. Why?
Second day at home recovering, which means way too much free time—enough to spiral all the way back to February seven years ago, wondering how I got here :)