As the New Year rolled around, we are now in it – 2025. Many have gone back to work, ready to charge forward, make plans, set resolutions, and launch into the year with a bullish energy.

One of the biggest changes since leaving the corporate world has been the shift in my mental health. In the past, I was surrounded by self-minded people, corporate politics dominating every interaction, constant “tech talk”, and a feeling of mistrust toward management. My energy was split between maintaining my place in an industry that didn’t resonate with me and quietly nurturing dreams that felt too distant for reality. This tension built up over the years, manifesting as unhappiness, frustration, and a growing sense of misalignment with who I truly was.

Last week, I returned from my vacation in France – my sixth visit and fourth time traveling solo there. With my background in French from college, I feel comfortable navigating the country on my own. There’s an energy in France that draws me in; I feel happy, calm, and at ease there. That’s why I chose to spend part of this trip reflecting on my life.

In the last year and a half since I left tech, I have felt joy, relief, confusion, uncertainty, and fear. While I immersed myself in taking classes and enjoying my newfound freedom, I also battled a whirlwind of emotions beneath the surface. At times, I felt grateful and happy to be spending my days as I wished. Other times, I was plagued by fearful thoughts that I was wasting time while my peers were advancing in their careers. My mindset flip-flopped week to week between updating my resume to apply for new jobs and reminding myself of this rare opportunity to pivot away from corporate life. It was tough to stay on one course as different parts of my personality pulled me in various directions.

A few months after being laid off, I took up a new job as an Assistant Project Manager at a construction subcontractor company. This was the role I had been working towards after completing a semester of Construction Management classes. It was a quick pivot from my tech career, but I was given the opportunity to jump right in and start fresh in a field I’m passionate about.

A few months ago, I was laid off from my job as a software engineer at a fintech company. Ten percent of the company was let go, and my team was heavily affected. Once I got over the initial shock, I had to adjust to the new reality of losing my daily routine. Suddenly, I had all the time in the world, which was initially overwhelming. However, I soon filled my days with running, meeting friends, taking classes, spending time with family, and finally choosing a brokerage to hang my real estate license with.

Since coming back from Kenya, many of my friends have asked me, “How was your trip? How was Kenya?”

“It was good,” I reply.

I mean where do I start? There is so much depth to that question that I cannot distill it into a simple sentence or two. Sure, the safari was amazing, the motorcycle tour riveting as we descended into the Rift Valley, and the visit to the school enlightening. But these surface-level activities are not what I’ll remember this trip by. It is the invisible soul-touching aspects that have captured my heart.

I began my FIRE journey when I was 18 years old. I started with stock investing. Then, a friend introduced me to Wealthfront’s robo-advising, and I quickly invested my hard-earned summer internship money into a Roth IRA. My interest in personal finance blossomed, and I focused on developing a sound financial mindset from there. However, it wasn’t until I started working full-time that I had the means to make significant strides in my wealth accumulation.

Originally I had planned to publish this around my birthday, back in November. As that passed, I targeted this for the New Year… and now it’s mid-April. Oh, the passing of time.

The myth is that introverts aren’t good at socializing.
The truth is we just don’t want to talk to you.