2025 changed how I understand success, work and life.

As I’ve shared here before, my dad passed away on July 7, 2025.

In one moment, the world I knew shifted. I don't share this for sympathy or attention. I share it because loss has a way of quietly changing how you see everything your priorities, your thinking, your sense of self, and your mental health.

I run a digital media company, something I’ve built with intention and pride. Last year made me realize just how much that work means to me, not just professionally but personally. It also taught me how easily we take time for granted. Time moves, people move on, and life does not pause because we are grieving.

Before 2025, I had vowed never to return to corporate employment due to bad past experiences.

Yet during my grieving period, I chose to work in a corporate environment anyway.

That decision came at a cost. I didn’t honor my grief. I pushed myself to function as if nothing had changed, and in doing so, I slowly abandoned myself.

Over time, I began questioning my competence, my abilities, and even my happiness. I stayed in a space where I knew I wasn’t a good fit, yet I remained longer than I should have.

At some point, I stopped trying to prove myself, not because I lacked ability, but because I knew what I was capable of and could see that the system itself was off. I started holding back, no longer doing my best, and that left me confused and still grieving.

Imagine showing up to work during the lowest period of your life, in a space that slowly makes you feel incompetent, worthless, odd one out, and even small, (even when you know that isn’t who you are). You keep going anyway.

In the end, it wasn’t worth it.

I learned (again) that corporate spaces often function long before your arrival and will continue the same way after you leave.

Many people are not open to change or being challenged; they prefer what is familiar. That reality is beyond you and it should not cost you your sense of self.

I tried to make it work in a system that could end at any moment, while neglecting the stability and growth of something I had already built for myself.

This is one of my biggest regrets of 2025: not giving my grief the respect it deserved.

My mental health deteriorated and I learned that people often don’t show the level of understanding they claim to have.

Grief is deeply personal, and navigating it within rigid structures can be isolating.

If there’s one thing I’m carrying forward, it’s this: take your time.

Nurture only what nurtures you.

Trust your intuition and don’t silence it. Being around people who are strategic with you while you are trying to be intentional will drain you faster than you realize.

Respect your abilities. Respect your emotions. Honor the promises you make to yourself.

As young women, there is still so much ahead of us. We will be alright. Trust your intuition the first time because eventually, you’ll see that you were right all along.

Sending love to anyone who is grieving, questioning themselves, or learning to choose themselves again. Hugs.