I Knew I Needed to Leave. I Stayed Anyway. Then the Universe Decided for Me.

In November 2025, I was halfway across the world, sitting on the upstairs balcony of a smoke shop in Thailand — which, if you know me and my background in cannabis, was honestly the most on-brand first stop I could have made when I landed. Thailand's laws around cannabis are remarkably relaxed, and there were shops on what felt like every other street corner. The one near our hotel had a rooftop lounge, and I spent more than a little time up there just... sitting. Reflecting. Trying to absorb the fact that I was actually there.

It was on that balcony that a thought hit me and wouldn't let go:

I am completely misaligned with my career and professional life.

Then I went home. And I stayed. And I kept grinding. And I told myself it would get better.

Two months later, I got laid off from Nova Farms — the company I'd given 3.5 years of my life to, climbed from budtender to project manager for, and been always-on-always-available at.

And my first feeling — genuinely, in my gut — was relief.

The Part Where I Was Thriving (And Also Not)

I want to be honest about something: I was good at my job. Really good. I climbed fast because I worked hard and I genuinely cared.

Over 3.5 years, I went from part-time budtender to inventory lead to supervisor to assistant inventory manager to business development coordinator to project manager. Nova Farms didn't hand me any of those roles — I earned them by seeing what needed to be done and doing it before anyone asked. I built systems, documented processes, managed projects, and genuinely grew in ways I couldn't have predicted when I walked in thinking it was a summer job.

I had originally planned to hit the five-year mark. Maybe longer. I told myself I'd at least make it to my wedding in June. But somewhere along the way, I stopped asking whether the ladder I was climbing was one I actually wanted to be on.

There's a version of success that looks great on paper and quietly costs you everything.

I was always on. All hours of the day. Nights, weekends, messages at all hours that I fielded without a second thought. I gave Nova everything I had — and the company gave me real opportunities in return. But the dreams I'd had coming out of college — working for myself, building something that was mine, having actual freedom — those weren't gone. They were just waiting. Collecting dust. Getting pushed to someday.

Sound familiar?

The Trip I'd Been Trying to Take for Years

Getting to Thailand wasn't random. I'd been following Olivia Catania — Livfiit — since the end of 2018. She's built a community around evolving into the best version of yourself, and one of the ways she does that is through women's retreats around the world. I had wanted to go on one for years. School got in the way. Cheer got in the way. Life got in the way.

She had Mexico planned for July 2025. I signed up. It fell through — not enough people. The girls who had signed up decided to pivot, and we chose Thailand in November instead.

I am so grateful it worked out that way. I really am.

That trip had been years in the making, and it finally happened at exactly the right moment — when I needed it most, even if I didn't know that yet. The full story of what that trip actually did to me is coming in the next post. But for this one, here's what matters:

I came back to Rhode Island and couldn't pretend anymore.

I knew — not in a vague, I should probably make some changes way, but in a deep, bone-level, this is not my life way — that I was misaligned. The work I was doing didn't match the life I wanted. I was building someone else's dream while mine sat on a shelf collecting dust.

But here's the part I'm not proud of: I still didn't leave.

I went back to work. I kept grinding. I told myself the timing wasn't right, the money wasn't right, I needed to wait for the perfect moment. I stayed stuck — not because I didn't know what I needed, but because knowing and doing are two completely different things.

The Layoff That Felt Like a Permission Slip

February 3rd, 2026: I got laid off.

The universe did what I couldn't do for myself.

I didn't spiral. I didn't panic. I felt — and I know this sounds strange — relieved. Like something that had been pressing on my chest for months finally lifted. The decision had been made for me, and it turned out to be exactly the decision I needed.

So instead of job-hunting, I made a different choice: I went all in on the life I actually want.

That looks like building Working With Sky into a business that hits $237K in year one. Getting married in June. Walking the Camino de Santiago in September — fully unplugged, two weeks, laptop stays home — because if my systems can run without me for that long, I'll know I've actually built something real.

Why I'm Telling You This

Because I think a lot of you are in the November version of my story.

You've had your Thailand moment. You know something needs to change. Maybe it's the way your business is running — the same manual tasks on repeat, the inability to take a real day off, the operations that only work because you're the one holding them together. Maybe it's bigger than that.

You know. And you're staying anyway. Waiting for the right moment. Telling yourself you'll fix it later.

I see you. I was you. And I know how heavy that feels — the gap between what you know needs to happen and what you're actually doing about it.

I'm not here to tell you to blow up your life. But I am here to tell you that "later" has a way of becoming never — unless something forces your hand.

You don't have to wait for the layoff.

This Is What I Build Now

The skills I built at Nova — the systems thinking, the process documentation, the project management — those came with me. They're the foundation of everything I do now. I don't regret any of it.

The difference is that now I use them to help people build businesses that give them their lives back.

I work with solopreneurs and small business owners who are stuck in the same pattern I was — talented, capable, and buried in the day-to-day of their own operation. I build the infrastructure that means your business can run without you being the bottleneck. That you can take a weekend off. That someone else can answer the question without texting you first.

Real, flexible systems — not rigid corporate nonsense. Built around the life you actually want to live, not the one that just looks good on paper.

I'm building this in public — the wins, the slow weeks, the wedding chaos, the Camino countdown — because I think the best proof that this works is showing you it works for me, in real time.

If you're in the staying-stuck phase and you're ready to stop waiting for the universe to make the decision for you — I'd love to talk.

→ workingwithsky.com/lets-talk