Should You Make a Massive Career Change?

And not blow up your life in the process

“Georgia” was lying in a hospital bed with her newborn daughter on her chest when she lost 40% of her blood. As midwives and doctors rushed to stop the hemorrhaging, she watched them—on a Tuesday morning at 10 AM—casually save her life.

That moment changed everything.

Now, four weeks away from returning to her marketing job after maternity leave, she’s questioning it all. Should she leave marketing for nursing? Is it just time for a new role? And how do you make sense of anything when you’re swimming in dissatisfaction but drowning in self-doubt?

If you’ve ever experienced something that made you reevaluate your entire career—whether it’s childbirth, illness, a layoff, or just a persistent feeling that something needs to change—this roadmap is for you.

The Real Problem Isn’t What You Think

When we’re at a career crossroads, we tend to frame it as a binary choice: Stay or go. Marketing or nursing. This or that.

But that’s not the real question.

The real work is understanding what you’re actually craving—and then finding all the ways to satisfy that craving, not just through one big dramatic leap.

Because here’s the truth: Your job is just one variable in a life full of variables. There’s what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, the impact you have, the impact you feel, your everyday experience, the people you’re surrounded by—so many elements that contribute to satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

The goal isn’t to find the “perfect” job. It’s to understand your values deeply enough that you can start making choices that align with them.

Key Takeaways from the Session

Pay Attention to What You Consume

Before her traumatic birth, Georgia was obsessively listening to The Birth Hour podcast—long-form interviews with women about their birth experiences. She wasn’t just preparing for labor; she was unconsciously gravitating toward the world she’d later want to be part of.

The lesson: What content do you consume voraciously? What do you invest your time and energy into learning about? That’s a signal about where your curiosity—and potentially your next career move—lies.

Trauma Reveals What Was Already Rumbling

Georgia’s birth experience didn’t create new desires out of nowhere. It amplified dissatisfactions that were already there:

• Feeling disconnected in remote work

• Not liking her manager or clients

• Missing the “part of a team” feeling

• Craving work that felt immediate and impactful

The lesson: Trauma (big or small) doesn’t give you new values—it forces you to finally pay attention to the ones you’ve been ignoring.

“Works on Paper” vs. “Works in Reality”

Georgia thought working in sustainability would make marketing more meaningful. It didn’t. She thought nursing might be the answer. But when we dug into the day-to-day reality—the adrenaline, the burnout, the 100K+ investment—she realized it wasn’t quite right either.

The lesson: Before you make a big leap, get granular about the everyday experience. Don’t just ask “Will this fulfill my values?” Ask “What will I actually be doing from 9 AM to 5 PM? What energy will this require from me? Can I sustain this alongside the rest of my life?”

The Third Path: Combine Everything

Instead of choosing between marketing OR nursing, the answer became clearer: Marketing IN healthcare.

Georgia gets to:

• Use skills she’s spent 15 years building

• Work in an industry that’s growing and hiring

• Stay connected to the healthcare world she’s passionate about

• Tell stories that bring people together (her core value)

• Potentially create content for healthcare workers on the side

The lesson: You don’t have to choose between your expertise and your passion. Look for the intersection—the alchemy of your disparate experiences that makes you uniquely valuable.

Create What You’re Craving

Georgia wanted more team culture and connection at her current remote job. Instead of just complaining about it or waiting to find it elsewhere, I suggested: Be the thing you’re craving.

Could Georgia revive the dormant women’s group at her company? Could she pitch culture-building initiatives? Even if she doesn’t stay long-term, she’d be building skills, adding to her resume, and filling her own cup in the process.

The lesson: The thing you’re missing is often a signal about what you value. Instead of seeing it as a roadblock, see it as an opportunity to participate in creating it—and build valuable skills while doing so.

Don’t Wait for Rock Bottom to Make a Change

Georgia was planning to go “bare minimum” at her job and carve out time for exploration. Perfect. But I wanted her to be strategic about it.

The lesson: Dedicate 20 minutes a day to your “inspiration workout.” Treat career exploration like stoking a small fire—consistent, intentional, controlled. Not waiting until you’re burnt out or desperate, but actively chipping away at a block of marble to reveal what’s inside.

The Process Needs to Give You Something, Not Just the Outcome

Whatever path Georgia pursues—volunteering at hospitals, interviewing healthcare marketers, posting on LinkedIn, creating content—it needs to feel good in the doing, not just in the potential getting.

The lesson: If the journey toward your goal is miserable, you’re on the wrong path. Find ways to explore that are inherently rewarding, that connect you with people, that teach you something, that make you feel alive.

How to Apply This to Your Own Life

If you’re at a crossroads, here’s your action plan:

Step 1: Stop the Binary Thinking

Write down the “either/or” choice you think you’re facing. Then throw it away. You’re not choosing between two predetermined options. You’re uncovering what you actually need.

Step 2: Identify Your Values

What made you feel most alive in past roles? What’s missing from your current situation? Don’t think in terms of job titles—think in terms of feelings, experiences, energy.

Prompts:

• When have I felt “part of a team”?

• What kind of impact do I want to have?

• What does my ideal Tuesday look like, hour by hour?

Step 3: Reality-Test Everything

Before you romanticize any path, talk to people actually doing it. Ask about the hard parts, the boring parts, the exhausting parts.

Questions to ask:

• What does a typical day actually look like?

• What surprised you most about this work?

• What do people not understand about this job until they’re in it?

• How do you maintain energy for this work?

Step 4: Look for the Third Path

Instead of abandoning your expertise, how can you apply it in a new direction?

Framework:

• Your existing skills + Your new passion + An industry that needs both = Your unique positioning

Step 5: Start Exploring (Without Quitting)

Before you make any big moves, live in the world you’re curious about for 20 minutes a day:

• Volunteer

• Interview people

• Consume content

• Create something small

• Engage on LinkedIn

• Attend events (or just look at who’s sponsoring them)

Step 6: Optimize Your Current Situation First

Before adding new things, stop the energy leaks:

• Set email autoresponders with realistic expectations

• Get crystal clear on your boss’s actual priorities (and only do those)

• Create guardrails for your perfectionism

• Build systems that don’t rely on willpower

Step 7: Network Like a Human, Not a Desperate Job-Seeker

Forget “networking.” Think “connecting.” Have conversations because you’re genuinely curious, not because you need something.

Reframe it: You’re not a job-seeker hoping someone will take pity on you. You’re a professional with ideas and a unique perspective. These are potential future collaborators or clients. What value can you offer them?

The Bottom Line

You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to take the next small step.

Career transitions aren’t about making one perfect decision. They’re about:

• Getting clearer on your values

• Reality-testing your assumptions

• Finding the intersection of your skills and passions

• Taking small, consistent actions

• Letting the path reveal itself to you

The marble sculpture is already inside the block. You just have to keep chipping away.

Ready to Take Action?

Reading about career transitions is one thing. Actually making progress is another.

That’s why I’ve created a 7-Day Progress Plan specifically designed for anyone at a career crossroads. These aren’t generic exercises—they’re the exact framework I use with my coaching clients to move from confusion to clarity.

Each day takes just 5-20 minutes, but by the end of the week, you’ll have: ✅ Identified what you’re actually craving (not just what you think you “should” want)
✅ Reality-tested your assumptions about potential career paths
✅ Taken at least one concrete action toward exploration
✅ Created energy boundaries so you stop leaking precious resources

This is how you stop spinning and start moving forward.

The truth is, most people stay stuck not because they lack options, but because they don’t have a clear process for working through them. This plan gives you that process.