This is Part 1 of a full series this month, taking you behind-the-scenes of leaving my corporate job, building and creating a business, and doing what you love. I’m pouring my heart out here, just warning you, and has nothing to do with healthy food and recipes. But don’t worry, those will be back soon!

Since the age of twelve, I knew the corporate world was my dream. I pictured waking up every morning in New York City, slipping into a fancy pencil skirt and heels and walking the busy streets with my latte in hand, making my way through the hustle and bustle (yes, still in my heels like they do in the movies) to my beautiful corner office with massive windows, where I was an executive sitting in meetings all day, making these super important decisions. Ultimately, rising to the top of the corporate ladder and earning the title of CEO. That was my dream in a nutshell.

I grew up in a home where the value of education and hard work was instilled in me at a very young age. My mom is a 5th-grade Catholic school teacher and my dad a Packaging Engineer. My parents did an incredible job preparing my sister and me for the “real world “. We are both SO grateful for that! I remember talking about what I wanted to be when I grew up in middle school. I wanted to be just like my dad, who is my ultimate role model. I get emotional even talking about him because I look up to him so much. I wanted nothing more than to follow in his footsteps.

So like father like daughter, I decided to pursue Packaging Engineering and attend the Universtiy of Wisconsin-Stout and land a job with General Mills. I dedicated ten years of my life to making this dream a reality. I’m talking about getting straight A’s in high school, making the Dean’s List in college, serving on the board of our Student Packaging Organization, reading every packaging magazine I could get my hands on, traveling to Germany to study packaging machinery, the list goes on. I was determined to be just like my dad and make him proud.

I LOVED college. Not just the social piece (even though I LOVED that too!), but the actual academic side of it. I loved my packaging classes, my professors, my classmates in my major. I truly blossomed in college. I would never trade my experience for anything!

I would often daydream in my classes of my future plans and make lists of the top companies to work for, the age I was going to get married, the age I was going to have my first child, etc. The whole nine yards. Can you tell I’m a first born?

One day, I went out to coffee with one of my good friends and he asked me, “So Nicole, what if this whole plan of yours doesn’t go according to plan?” My response was, “That’s not an option because I’m going to make it happen.” He looked at me like I was crazy and just chuckled.

Fast forward two years later, I’m sitting in my office thinking “This is what my life is going to be like for the next forty years? Uh oh.” I kept trying to shake this feeling for the next few months telling myself things would get better. Until one day, I just broke down. I was sitting at the dinner table with Jonah (my fiance at the time) and started sobbing. You know the kind of sobbing where you feel like you’re choking because you can’t breathe? It was that kind.

I opened up about how unhappy I was. How could this be? I was working for one of the best companies in the world, I had my own office with windows, I worked with some of my friends from college (small world), had half-day Fridays during the summer, three weeks of vacation, and a very comfortable salary. I seemed to check all of the boxes! Except for the most important one…I was completely unfulfilled.

I dreaded going back to work on Mondays. I just couldn’t bear the thought of having to sit at my desk all day, work on projects that didn’t allow me to express my creativity, and reporting to someone who I couldn’t stand. The most frustrating part was that it had absolutely nothing to do with the company! It was more personal than that. I had this strong feeling that the corporate world wasn’t for me…

That’s when I started digging deep as to what I was truly passionate about, which was nutrition and wellness. You can read more on that here, where I talk about my journey in more detail on becoming a Health Coach.

I began to pray every morning on my drive to work that God would help me get through the day. I was at the point where all I could do was lean on my faith for support. There was one morning in particular that I will never forget. It was in December of 2015, I was driving in my car, praying and instantly felt this energy run through my body and heard God say, “You are exactly where you need to be.” Clear as day.

From that moment on, I began to slowly release this need to control every aspect of my life. I trusted that God had placed me in this situation for a reason. I may not have understood it at the time, but I knew deep down that I would thank Him one day. Spoiler alert: I’ll tell you about this exact day in Part 2.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story. In this full series on the blog, I’m taking you behind the scenes of starting a business doing what you love. Part 2 coming next week.

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