My passion for writing was validated throughout my life by how many people appreciated my words – from writing job recommendations, greeting cards, and immigration reference letters, to editing essays and resumes, I was the proud resident writer in the Khan household.

Despite this overwhelming encouragement, I never dared to imagine myself as a professional writer. Not having a “proper” 9-5 seemed outlandish – even selfish and indulgent – and only possible for a special, select group of people who had the *it* factor.

So instead, without much thought to what I actually liked, I pursued a much more realistic and simple dream – get a nice, cushy job as a banker, earning a reasonable income while spending time with my family. And while I didn’t become a banker exactly, I did go to business school and work for five years as a project manager in the healthcare industry.

For my first few years, life was good. I was doing meaningful work, learned new skills every day, and met incredible people. Yes I was also insanely busy, but it seemed an acceptable tradeoff for a safe and secure livelihood. What more could you ask for?

TWO CAREERS

a tale of

And yet … I knew something wasn’t working. I dreaded opening my inbox every morning, would be too exhausted to do anything in the evenings, and would spend my entire weekend catching up on home chores and errands.

I could see the visible manifestation of my suffering mental health in the mirror: a gaunt and worn-out face, dark circles under my eyes, increasing gray hairs – slowly but surely, more and more time was going towards my job while my family and hobbies kept getting put on the back burner.

And maybe the most depressing part of all? No matter how hard I worked, it never felt like enough.

Time was just passing me by – and if it went on like this, I knew I would wake up one day full of regret wondering where I spent my time and my energy.

I was tired of feeling defeated and dependent on outcomes that others were creating for me. I decided that I wanted to live life on my own terms where I could control the narrative – and I wanted to help others do the same.