The Wake-Up Call in Seat 19A
It started when my plane landed in Guatemala. I had an immediate, full-body reaction of Ooohhh. Something major has been missing… On the flight home, sitting in seat 19A, it solidified: I couldn’t go back to the life I had.
On paper, everything looked amazing. I was a small business owner with multiple thriving locations, a fun and profitable side business, and a consulting role coaching business owners around the world. I had the three-bedroom townhouse, the Lexus convertible, and the designer wardrobe.
I had checked all my boxes. But somewhere along the way, all of it had started to feel like a trap instead of freedom.
When “Success” Feels Like Burnout
I no longer had time, energy, or space for what truly mattered to me. What did I have? Failed relationships, six-figure debt from an expansion gone wrong, and a schedule that consumed me 24/7.
That plane ride home was my moment of awareness and, as Harvard Business Review’s 5 Steps for Women to Combat Burnout points out, awareness is the first step.
– Was I exhausted physically and emotionally? Yep.
– Cynical or detached? Absolutely.
– Feeling like I was no longer contributing meaningfully? 100%.
Their next step? Make your emotional and physical well-being a priority. That became my mission.
—
Letting Go to Make Space
As Allie Hill says in her article The Art Of Becoming: A Midlife Reinvention, reinvention doesn’t always start with a detailed plan – it starts with a pause. My pause was that flight home from Guatemala, 6 hours with nothing to do but consider everything that needed changing. To stop and really look at the life I had built, mostly on autopilot.
Over the next few months, I sold my businesses, liquidated nearly all my possessions, and shed an identity that had defined my late 30s: successful small business owner, role model for women entrepreneurs in the U.S. It was time to become something new, and more importantly, something authentic to me.
Only I had been going down one path for so long, I wasn’t even sure what I wanted anymore. I had become numb to my own inner knowing.
—
Designing a New Blueprint
I packed a suitcase and spent the next several years traveling through 12 countries in Latin America. I experimented with environments to see what sparked creativity, focus, and energy.
I learned which spaces helped me rest, which sparked new ideas, and which drained me. This was radical self-care, tuning in to what I wanted instead of chasing outdated, male-modeled definitions of business success.
I slowly began to redesign a model of success that worked for me as a woman, lover of travel, recovering perfectionist, strategic thinker, and creative.
—
What My Life Looks Like Now
Today, I run a flexible coaching business that makes a major impact without chaining me to a desk. I’ve launched a side career as a fine artist exhibiting internationally in Paris and Madrid. I work and create from a gorgeous private studio in Mexico. I called in my ideal relationship, built rest into my schedule, and stopped setting morning alarms to begin my days with ease.
My weeks include space to travel, to create, and to simply think, without the old guilt for not always being ‘productive.’
—
Three Lessons for Women Leaders Redefining Success
If you’re ready for your own fearless pivot, here’s where to start:
1. Audit Your Environment
– Look at the physical and professional spaces you inhabit. Do they help you focus, rest, and create? Or do they drain your energy?
2. Let Go of One Thing That No Longer Fits
– It could be a commitment, a process, or a belief you’ve outgrown. Release it to make space for what’s next.
3. Protect Space for What Fuels You
– Guard time for creativity, relationships, or rest as if it’s sacred. Those are the elements that will sustain your reinvention.
—
Your Invitation
I invite you to identify one small piece you can redesign today. Let this be your pause and your first step toward a life and business that truly align with the woman you are becoming.
Katrina Cobb is a Change Architect and Lifestyle Business Strategist helping women leaders create lives and businesses that feel as good as they look. Take her free Freedom Audit at to pause and see where you may want to start on your own reinvention.
Name: Katrina Cobb
Professional Title: Lifestyle + Business Strategist
Bio: Katrina Cobb is a change architect and lifestyle business strategist helping women leaders create lives and businesses that feel as good as they look. Take her free Freedom Audit to pause and see where you may want to start on your own reinvention.
