Is this really it? Life is for living.

Nothing is technically wrong. You can pay your bills, reply to all your emails and say “sure thing” to Bob from accounts. You can go out at the weekend. But somehow, you still want to scream from the rooftops.

What the fuck is happening? Is this really it?

Something that has really affected me over the last five years is the number of funerals I've attended for people who weren't old and didn't deserve to have had their life taken from them. Life was really cruel to them. But my goodness, did it shift something in my head.

Life is for living. It's the small moments that all add up to make life enjoyable. The moments we don't necessarily plan for, celebrate on social media or even recognise as particularly significant at the time. Yet, somehow, they're the ones that stay with us.

One of my fondest memories of coming home from school was seeing home-baked treats on the kitchen counter, ready for us to devour. Knowing my mum had lovingly prepared them for us made them all the more special.

I've started doing the same for my daughter now. Firstly, because she is absolutely ravenous when she gets home from school, but also because there is so much joy in watching her tuck into treats and snacks that have been lovingly made with her in mind.

It's the knowledge that she can come home straight after school, eat something delicious, and that we can hang out, discuss our days and go on to do some painting, get creative with crafts or even take a trip to the pool to help her learn to swim.

These are the moments I adore. The moments I feel incredibly lucky to have.

But I must remember that I've created this life for myself, too.

That meant leaving a job that felt secure in salary but where stress levels were through the roof. It meant learning new skills, not just in my craft of career coaching, but in how to run a business, operate under multiple hats and navigate the uncertainty that comes with doing something different.

It hasn't always been easy, and I'm not suggesting that everyone should throw caution to the wind and leave their job. But I do think we need to give ourselves permission to question whether the life we're living is actually the one we want or what other possibilities are really out there.

Our careers are just one part of our lives. They should support the life we want to create, not consume so much of it that we forget what we're creating it for in the first place.

Sometimes, the right career choice isn't the promotion, the bigger salary or the next step up the ladder. Sometimes, it's a decision to step sideways, slow down, try something new or simply reclaim a little more of yourself.

The days of watching my daughter eat the home-baked treats and snack plates I've made won't last forever. But for the next year or two, these are the types of moments I'm choosing to centre my life around.

These are the moments that feel important to me right now. Not because they'll always be the most important thing, but because they are what I want my life to look like at this stage of it.

I can't help but think that if my life were cruelly cut short, I would have zero regrets about these choices.

Perhaps that's a question worth asking ourselves more often. Not to create fear or too much pressure, but to give ourselves a little perspective of the things which really matter.

Are we making choices based on what we genuinely want, or what we think we're supposed to want?

Are we holding on to something because it feels secure, even when it's no longer serving us?

What would our lives look like if we gave ourselves permission to make decisions that suited who we are now, rather than who we were five or ten years ago?

We don't need to wait for a life-changing event to remind us that life is happening right now.

We can make changes, big or small, simply because we want to.

And if your career is the part of your life that no longer feels right, perhaps it's time to give yourself permission to explore what else is possible.

Your career should fit your life, not the other way around.

You don't need to have all the answers before you start exploring what comes next. Sometimes, you just need a safe space to untangle your thoughts, challenge a few assumptions and work out what you actually want.

If you're questioning your career, feeling stuck or simply wondering whether there's another way to do things, I'd love to help you explore it.

Book a confidential, no-obligation career discovery call with me. We'll talk about where you are, what's prompting the questions and what a career that feels right for you could look like.