I worked 12-hour days in a corporate job I loved. I wanted my life back, so I quit, and now I’m a waitress.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lisa Eder. It has been edited for length and clarity.

For 10 years, I worked my way up in luxury hospitality, eventually becoming a director at a high-end hotel group. It had always been my dream position, and I loved my job.

Everything about it was exciting, and no two days were ever the same. There were important VIP arrivals, high-profile events, and constant challenges. I became consumed by it all. The job was a lifestyle, and for a decade, it was the lifestyle I wanted for myself.

I loved working 12-hour days, most days of the week. I loved leading a team of 100 people and six department heads. I loved the responsibility, the pace, and having to be “on” all the time. But I didn’t have much of a life outside work. The job was my life.

When my husband and I moved from Austria to Australia in January 2024 for his job, however, my mindset about work began to change.

I didn’t burn out

Australians are generally more relaxed about work. I saw how much they enjoyed the different aspects of life outside their jobs, and I found myself wanting the same for my own life.

Slowly, I began to wonder whether I had outgrown my career.

I hadn’t burned out. I didn’t hate my job. In fact, I still loved many aspects of it. It just no longer felt like it was for me. I no longer wanted to fit into the corporate box. I wanted something else.

I wanted to have dinner with my husband at night and completely switch off from the day. I wanted the autonomy to decide how I spent my time. I wanted to discover new hobbies and interests that made me feel alive again.

For months, I sat with these newly emerging desires, trying to work out what to do with them.

I asked myself what I wanted from life

I had spent years working to get where I was professionally. What would other people think? Was I giving up? Was I throwing away everything I had worked so hard for?

At the same time, I was asking myself bigger questions: What did I actually want from my life? Who was I now? What were my values?

Throughout the entire process, my husband made it very clear that I could choose whatever I wanted. The decision and drive mainly came from me, but he supported it because he understood that I was serious about it

In early January 2026, I quietly decided to resign. In February, I resigned, and I left the company in March. I’d like to say it was easy, but it wasn’t.

I took a waitressing job

I grappled with who I was now that I was no longer a leader in the corporate world. I had spent so long building a professional identity that I wasn’t sure who I was without it. I also had to learn how to live with the uncertainty of not knowing what would come next.

Financially, I had been preparing for the transition by saving money to support myself. My husband was also incredibly supportive. But I wanted to make my own money, so I took a part-time waitressing job at a café in Sydney.

Unexpectedly, that job became about much more than income. It gave me joy.

I loved being around people, food, and coffee. I loved finishing work and coming home without the weight of a corporate job on my shoulders. I had the freedom to decide what I wanted to do with my evenings, whether that was something on my own or spending time with my husband.

I also started playing volleyball, running, and tennis — sports I had loved before my corporate life took over.

Then I started dreaming about becoming a Pilates instructor. I enrolled in a training course, which I’m still completing, with the goal of becoming an instructor.

I found myself again.

I won’t say I have everything planned out. That wouldn’t be honest. But having space in my head has given me the ability to keep asking myself whether my life aligns with my values — and to make changes when it doesn’t.

My journey is my journey, but it won’t be right for everyone.

If you aren’t willing to do the mindset work — to question your identity, understand your values, and rethink what success means to you — to live with uncertainty and wrestle with doubt, then giving up a corporate career may not be the right choice for you.

But for me, it feels almost unthinkable how different my life looks now. And I don’t regret it.