【From Software Engineer to Career Consultant】
Part 3: Rest is What Allows Us to Go Further
Once I experienced what kind of work fills me with passion and motivation—once that switch was flipped—it was almost impossible for me to go back to my old way of working just to make a living!
After leaving Cisco, I joined a Cisco technology partner company specializing in video conferencing systems, as a Senior Manager of Business Development. However, partly for the reasons mentioned above, and partly because I became a mother at a later age of my career (my child was just born at this time), the years of high-pressure work had accumulated a sense of exhaustion. At the same time, I truly wanted to focus on being present for my child’s one and only childhood. So, a year later, I decided to give myself a complete break, allowing myself time to carefully figure out what I wanted to do in the future.
This was a time when I could face myself honestly and earnestly, and draft a new plan for my next phase of career.
I sincerely believe that there are moments in our lives when we need to press the pause button, halting our busy and unconscious routine, so that we can truly step outside of it and think through the important things thoroughly. This is especially true when you feel exhausted, confused, and lacking motivation.
Looking back now, that decision was the wisest one I have ever made in my life. Not only did I fully enjoy the blissful years of spending time with my child during his early life, but I also made sure to keep learning and growing. I read many psychology books, took numerous continuing education classes, and obtained international certifications in MBTI, project management, and risk management. I even finished writing my first book, The Inside Story of Cisco (思科現形記).
Although I can now summarize the process back then in just a few short sentences, in reality, every step and every decision in between was not simple and required a clear mind and serious work. Especially for a mother, being able to balance and navigate the needs of the family along with one’s own physical and mental health definitely requires acute self-awareness and the ability to prioritize and make trade-offs.
<to be continued>
