If I might time journey from 2026 again to 2016, I’d recognise her instantly. She seemed busy. Energised. Productive. And utterly unaware she was already leaving. Looking again at 2016, it feels… | Anna Ong

If I might time journey from 2026 again to 2016, I’d recognise her instantly.

She seemed busy.
Energised.
Productive.

And utterly unaware she was already leaving.

Looking again at 2016, it appears like I lived a special life.

That was my final 12 months in banking.

By then, banking not served me —
however I hadn’t admitted it but.

So as an alternative of leaving cleanly, I distracted myself.

I crammed my calendar with coaching blocks and bodily challenges.
Dragon boat.
Marathon prep for Tokyo.

Always transferring.
Never nonetheless lengthy sufficient to determine.

In hindsight, it’s wild how a lot power I had.

Not as a result of I used to be fulfilled —
however as a result of I used to be avoiding a choice.

2016 was the 12 months I slowly escaped my company identification.

Not with one courageous leap.
But with a thousand sideways strikes.

It was the 12 months I made a decision:
• I used to be achieved with banking
• I used to be achieved residing a “sensible” life
• I used to be achieved pretending there was just one strategy to dwell

The world all of a sudden felt vast open.
Messy.
Uncertain.
Full of risk.

(Also — apparently — brief hair was a part of that section.
Haven’t gone again since.)

Here’s what I do know now:

When folks say they’re “too busy” to alter their life,
what they usually imply is that they’re busy avoiding the choice.

Change doesn’t begin with readability.
It begins with discomfort.

And distraction is normally the primary clue.

So in case your life seems to be full proper now,
however feels unusually hole —

you would possibly simply be standing the place I used to be in 2016.

What outdated identification are you able to shed?