Before pivoting my career, I spent eight years in the corporate world, navigating the high-pressure marketing and sales landscapes of multinational corporations.

During that time, I fell into the trap of "performance-driven" health. I was all-in on Olympic weightlifting and CrossFit, fueled by a "more is better" mentality. I used sports as an outlet for my stress and tracked metrics like my weight, PB’s (personal best scores) and overall training performance excessively.

I also used training and nutrition to exert a level of control over my life that I otherwise felt I didn’t have. I thought I was being healthy, but I was actually making every classic mistake: I was living on autopilot, undereating, overtraining, completely deprioritizing recovery and avoiding the real issues.

I didn’t realize that my high-stress work environment, combined with restrictive "clean" eating, intense training and self-inflicted emotional pressure was a recipe for burnout. It resulted in persistent fatigue, low energy & emotional instability. I presented a great front to the world, but I was falling apart. And worst of all: I became completely numb to my body’s signals & needs.