The Power of the In-Between: Reflections Before My Next Chapter

What really happens when high performers pause? A story about clarity, courage, and redefining success from the inside out.

I’m writing this in the quiet space before I return to the corporate world after a 3-month career break that was less about rest and more about reconnecting.

This week, I found myself speaking on a panel at inaugural GTIA event about reinvention, career pivots, and the evolving face of leadership. I also sat down for a podcast conversation on wellbeing and ambition, two words we rarely see side by side in business, but which I now believe must co-exist if we’re to lead with truth and endurance.

And now, I’m on the edge of something new: starting a new role next week. But this article isn’t about the role. It’s about the space in between.

The place where I finally caught up with myself.

The Overachiever’s Dilemma

Before my career break, I was leading high-performing teams, running multi-cloud sales and go-to-market across Asia Pacific & Japan, achieving triple-digit growth, and speaking at conferences about leadership and transformation.

But I couldn’t hear myself anymore.

People praised my resilience, but I began to question what I was actually resisting.

Sometimes, what we call high performance is just high-functioning survival with a title and a calendar to match.

Many of us lead from a place of momentum, not meaning. We don’t pause to ask:

“Is this success still mine?”

“Who am I, when I’m not achieving?”

“Is the ladder I’m climbing still leaning against the right wall?”

What I Found in the Pause

Losing a title, income, and professional identity sounds terrifying, especially for overachievers. But to my surprise, that wasn’t what shook me. I had options lined up. I wasn’t anxious about survival - I was anxious about speed. About wasting time. About falling behind.

But I didn’t want to rush. I wanted to feel and listen. To ask myself questions I hadn’t dared to answer while in motion.

What does success mean when no one’s watching?

Who am I without the external recognition, the urgency, the goals?

What kind of life do I want to create - intentionally, this time?

Originally, I gave myself six months to figure it out. The time got cut short when an opportunity arose that felt right, not just on paper, but in my body. I felt it. I was ready. Not because I had “figured everything out,” but because I had finally reconnected with myself.

Three things shaped this journey:

1. Writing The Graceful Edge became a mirror.

   It helped me see myself again - my values, my voice, my contradictions. I didn’t expect my words to resonate so widely, or that they’d create space for so many others to feel heard and seen. What surprised me most? The number of men who reached out. It made me realize that what I’m exploring isn’t just a “women’s journey”—it’s a human one.

2. The in-person workshops with Chris Do gave structure to my reflection.

   His frameworks around personal branding and conversational storytelling helped me organize my clarity and gave me language for the shifts I was experiencing. I have shared my insights in my earlier article The Truth About Personal Branding, go check it.

3. Three weeks in Italy with my family was the soul reset I’d long postponed.

   It’s been a dream of mine for over a decade. But with a corporate calendar of 12 days of annual leave, it always felt just out of reach. This time, there were no calls, no deliverables, no metrics to chase. Just spontaneous moments, long walks, slow mornings, and conversations that reminded me what it feels like to live from the inside out.

None of it was planned. I let life surprise me.

In doing so, I found something I hadn’t felt in years:

Presence without pressure. Joy without performance. Success without speed.

That’s the power of the in-between, and that’s what I’ll carry into my next chapter.

Reinvention Is a Reclamation

Next week, I return to tech, to sales leadership, to building high-performing teams and scaling bold visions. But I’m coming back different.

I’m coming back with:

• A deeper reverence for silence and for not always having the answer first.

• A refusal to let urgency override clarity or integrity.

• A commitment to lead not just with excellence, but with energy that’s sustainable and aligned.

Leadership is no longer about being the strongest voice in the room. It’s about being the clearest.

And clarity only comes when you dare to step away from the noise.

A Note to the Overachievers

If you’re reading this and feel a twinge of discomfort, that’s your truth trying to reach you.

Maybe you’ve been outperforming your alignment.

Maybe you’ve been praised for results that cost you your peace.

Maybe, like me, you need to redefine what growth means, not just vertically in your org chart, but inwardly, toward your wholeness.

Here’s the controversial part:

The best thing you can do for your career might be to pause it.

Not to quit. Not to escape.

But to remember who you were before the metrics took over.

If You’re in the In-Between

Maybe you’re in the pause right now or maybe you’re sensing it’s time to create one.

Here are a few things that helped me make the most of that space—without a plan, but with deep intention:

• Write, even if it’s just for yourself. Let your inner voice come through without a filter. It’s more honest than you think.

• Move your body without measuring. Walks, runs, swims, dancing, yoga - not to burn calories, but to reconnect with yourself.

• Spend time with people who don’t care about your resume. It’s humbling, liberating, and grounding.

• Protect white space in your calendar. Insights don’t come when you’re booked back to back.

• Let go of “figuring it out.” This isn’t a strategy sprint. It’s a remembering.

Your next chapter will arrive soon enough.

This one - the in-between - is just as important.

What’s Next

I’ll share more next week about my return to the corporate world and what I’m learning in this next chapter. But today, I just want to honor the in-between.

The moment between what was and what will be.

Where we meet ourselves.

Where truth speaks.

And where the real reinvention begins—not of our titles, but of our selves.

Would you want me to share a guide on how to create your own mini-reset or pause plan, even while working full-time? Let me know in comments.