In January, I was laid off after 10 years in tech. I wasn’t surprised – it was a hard season across the industry, and recruiters are vulnerable – and I wasn’t upset. I was burned (out) to a crisp.

This “involuntary sabbatical” has been my longest career pause to date, and it’s given me precious time to identify and heal the root causes of my burnout. I’ve also had time to think about what I’ve learned this past decade – what worked, what didn’t, and what to bring forward.

At the start of my career in 2013, I knew I wanted to solve communication problems. I had no end in mind; I looked to the next step on the staircase. I said “yes” to every new learning opportunity, and every experience helped form the foundation of transferable skills I bring to every role.

So, a few years in, I’d built a diverse skillset. Great! What I hadn’t built, however, was resilience to stress. I didn’t understand my nervous system. My mind was a mystery, and it was starting to get the better of me.

Early on, it was fine – until it wasn’t. As life became increasingly complex, the shaky foundation I’d built on started to crack. I had an asymmetrical house with a collapsed porch and rooms at an angle, filled with boxes of mental clutter I didn’t have the “bandwidth” or “time” to sort through.

You can’t live in a house like that – not forever – but sometimes it takes a catalyst to finally commit to a full renovation.

Burnout is “a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.” I was a Type A with ADHD, and if you know anything about those characteristics, you know they’re quite incompatible. It’s the kind of toxic relationship that’s fun for awhile – sexy and exciting, and barreling toward divorce. Picture someone who loves to cook complex meals at top speed without doing dishes as they go, and you’ll have an idea of what my unsustainable life felt like from 2019-2022.

Externally, this was not obvious. Type As are masters of disguise, even to themselves. However, I harnessed the superpower of these incompatible characteristics to spend my “sabbatical” healing them.

Happily, I’ve emerged a Type B+, and if you read that as “Be Positive” – you get me. I’ve also worked with my ADHD, and embraced its superpowers. As I’ve discovered, we all have the tools – and power – to heal ourselves.

I’ve created this space to share what I learn on the path toward helping others do their best work by discovering their most authentic, bravest, truest selves. Our true power lies in understanding that what makes us different makes us beautiful, and that we each have a voice.

Let’s practice using them to tell our stories. Together, we can build a better, more inclusive world, at work and far beyond.