I quit my career at 40 when a diagnosis stopped me in my tracks. Prioritizing my health was scary, but it helped me redefine success.

• Mel Hoeppner left her job last year after trying to juggle work and two new health conditions.
• After taking time to reflect, she decided to invest in herself and started her own health brand.
• Hoeppner said she’s found inner happiness that she thinks is hard to achieve in a corporate setting.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mel Hoeppner, a 40-year-old CEO and founder of The Healing Habit, based in Tennessee. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Last year, building my career and staying focused on my profession mattered the most to me. I didn’t have time for really anything else.

I’m used to powering through things. I’m a military spouse and I’m raising kids, but over the course of several months, I noticed my health was declining in ways that didn’t feel like typical burnout.

I found out I was suffering from the effects of two undiagnosed autoimmune conditions: rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimoto’s disease. Juggling everything wasn’t working, and I realized I needed to take time off to focus on my health.

I’ve always wanted to put all the work I’ve been putting toward other people’s dreams into my own, but getting sick was the real catalyst for leaving my job and starting my own brand.

Work was my identity for so long. Walking away came with a major feeling of uncertainty.

After I left my job last October, I had a knee-jerk reaction to tell myself that maybe it was just that job. Perhaps I needed to go back and find another job, and then everything would be OK.

I spent nearly three months exploring creative outlets and recovering. I went to yoga, which I had never done before, and painted a lot; I ended up painting every inch of my house. I also started doing a ton of yard work and just processing things I had put off for years.

Then I read this book called “Anticancer” about how we all have inflammation in our bodies, but there are things that you can do to decrease that inflammation and live a healthier lifestyle. I drew a lot of inspiration from this book, and then I began thinking about my own diagnosis.

After my break from working, I launched my own health brand

When I was getting my diagnosis, I had to spend an incredible amount of time doing my own research and really understanding what an inflammatory disease is. I started making this drink blend with ingredients like turmeric, cardamom, and cinnamon, all of which are rich in antioxidants.

I wanted to invest in helping people in a bigger way and do something good at scale. I decided to take a chance and develop a drink blend called The Healing Habit, which supports a healthy inflammatory response.

I began by testing the product in my kitchen and ultimately reached out to a manufacturer with the ingredients that I wanted to use. The manufacturer helped tweak it and determine the optimal ratios for the flavor profile.

Being my own boss is the scariest but most rewarding thing

It’s so scary being my own boss because at the end of the day, nobody’s coming to save me. It’s also the most incredible and rewarding thing that I’ve ever done in my professional career.

I had to dig deep within myself to find the confidence to trust my vision. When I reached that point, it filled me with an inner happiness that I think is hard to find in a corporate setting.

The fun thing about developing a brand is that I play every role. I’m the content creator, the social media coordinator, the email copywriter, the finance person, the CEO — all of it. My day-to-day life is always different, but it doesn’t feel like work anymore because of how passionate I’ve become.

My advice for preparing for a transitional period of life

There’s definitely a big financial investment in all of this. I had set aside some money, knowing that I wanted to do something of my own one day. I don’t have investors. I didn’t use Kickstarter. This was all me at the end of the day.

My dad always told me to have contingency and backup plans in life. Follow your dreams, but don’t do it blindly or without a plan. Ten years ago, my husband and I got into real estate investing. We started small and thought about how to get ourselves to a point of freedom. Not everyone’s in the same position as I am now, but one thing you do have and can use is time.

If you have a full-time job, but you want to make a plan for pursuing some other dream that you have, outline your plan and what it will take to achieve it, and then start working on it little by little.

I don’t regret leaving corporate at all because I’ve redefined success for myself

Success is now taking my kids to school in the morning and being able to follow my passion, it’s spending time with friends, family, and my husband, and learning new things.

When I think about whether I’ll ever return to corporate work, I never say never. I’ve put in the work for the conventional 9-to-5, and I don’t regret a bit of it. However, that’s not the path I foresee for myself and the future I’m creating.

I believe that with age comes wisdom, and now that I’m 40, I’m getting my affairs in order and making a plan for moving forward, trusting myself, and committing to the future I want to create.

Do you have a career pivot story to share? Contact this reporter, Agnes Applegate, at [email protected].

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