From the corporate job to a more spiritual heart-aligned life

I remember when I was a teenager, maybe 15 years old, I was first interested in spirituality.

Back then, it wasn’t “normal.” You could hear things like “You’re too young.” Or “You can do something like that when you’re older.”

And for a while I thought there was something wrong with me. Maybe I wasn’t normal.

But what I’ve learned is your craziness becomes your uniqueness one day.

At first you really think you’re not normal, but then again, you ask yourself, what’s being normal in the first place?

Being normal is being someone that often follows society's expectations.

Get an education, get a job, get a car, get a house, get kids.

If you’re not adhering to those society expectations, you’re often considered not “normal."

And it’s obvious.

That’s what most people know.

“Not normal” simply means you’re not doing what society generally knows or expects you to do.

But here’s a curious observation: A lot of people following those exact footsteps of getting an education, getting a car, a house and kids increasingly suffer from burnout or a feeling of emptiness. Isn’t that interesting?

In a time where the world is full of possibilities, the number of burnouts is increasing too?

When I was younger and I was drawn to spirituality, I was never really interested in any particular spiritual practises. I just felt there was more to life than what the human eye could see. I was curious to learn more about myself and the world. Soon after I joined spiritual communities, I realized how many struggles they had themselves. How many ideas and concepts they held that didn’t align with me personally.

It didn’t align with me back then to eat vegan. It didn’t align with me to do yoga or travel to India or meditate all day long. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it simply wasn’t my personal idea of how I wished to lead life. However, deep down in my heart, I just knew I came here for more. I just couldn’t name it or didn’t know what it was. I always felt drawn to writing and while I could perceive some ideas and visions of what I really felt like doing in life, they all sounded too crazy for my own mind.

So indeed, I followed society’s expectations and went into education instead. I turned my back on spirituality. And for a couple of years, I would often act against my inner desires without realizing it.

I thought I needed to get the money, the house and the job to be happy and live the life I love.

Boy, was I wrong.

Soon after I entered the corporate world, I felt how much competition there was. How much rivalry. How much jealousy. No one would talk about it.

It’s not just competition in your own team but amongst companies. Amongst your competitors. Doing a competitor analysis was once part of my daily tasks.

Until one day, this all didn’t feel aligned anymore.

It was not something obvious, but deep in my heart, it felt so useless.

To cut the story short, this time I made myself a promise. I would no longer ignore the whisper of my heart. I would no longer ignore my feeling that was telling me that the path I was on didn’t feel like my path.

There was a bit of confusion. The spiritual communities didn’t entirely feel aligned. The corporate world didn’t either. I just wanted to create a life on my terms. I didn’t want to follow any pre-existing ideas of how to live life. I wanted to live with more purpose and passion just the way I am.

Back then, little did I know what I could do instead. I always admired others who had a passion like painting or acting and now they became painters or actors. I thought I had no gifts or talents like that.

Boy, was I wrong.

As soon as I discovered more about myself, for the very first time I discovered gifts and aspects I didn’t even know I had. And soon I noticed how there’s an infinite amount of possibilities and potentials within each single one of us. I was amazed.

Why we can’t see those potentials is because they’re dormant. We often don’t nurture our dreams and desires enough. It’s a bit like a flower. If you don’t nurture the seeds regularly, no flower can grow.

I was at a point where I was no longer satisfied with the status quo.

I started to follow my heart.

At the beginning I was scared. I was scared of what other people would think of me. I was scared if it wasn’t working out. I was scared I would fail so hard and have to go back to my old job.

But one day, you learn to embrace those fears and at some stage, you learn to turn the page. You’re now more scared of going back to your old job than being scared of doing your own thing.

And there comes a point where the outer opinions of people become less and less important to you.

Not because you don’t care, but you realize it’s your life, not theirs.

You’re not here to make others happy; you’re here to experience more of yourself.

The most important thing is to follow your heart.

Then everything that is meant for you will come to you.

It comes from a place of inner alignment. Not from a place of pushing or fighting for a goal.

That was the miracle I saw. In the corporate world it all felt like hard work and pushing all the time.

When you follow the heart, it’s the other way round. You can’t really push or fight for a goal. If you do, then most likely, something is not truly aligned otherwise you wouldn’t have to push. It doesn’t mean there aren’t any challenges.

But pushing often happens in the mind. The mind makes us believe we have to make certain things happen. But sometimes it’s just an image we have. Like some people may have the image of achieving a certain job title “to be someone” or to have made it. But who defines that? Those images are created in your own human mind, not in the heart.

And now that we have those ideas in the human mind, we think we have to achieve certain things. We start pushing, hustling.

Once you spot the ideas and limiting concepts in your mind, you realize what a natural flow there is when you allow your heart to take over instead.

There is a power about the heart. It’s like a technology. It’s where AI can never get.

AI is fed by humans. But your heart is greater than you can currently think.

It’s beyond all your limitations, where everything you long for is possible. Where everything you long for is already within you. Yes, it sounds surreal. But once you tap into the energy of your heart, you understand what I’m talking about.

And so I made it my mission to follow my heart. To let my heart guide me in my business, in my daily decisions, in my relationships, in my health, basically in any aspect of my life.

Not only did it bring me so much more joy, healing and a sense of purpose, but also it feels much more aligned with who I am.

Is it always easy? Oh no. I’ve gone through moments of pure frustration and despair. But those moments helped me to shed a little more of the ideas I created in my mind.

Sometimes, it’s very hard because you go against the norms that are known in society.

People would give you odd looks, “Are you crazy, you give up your safe job? You give up the security?”

And as Sadhguru once put it so nicely in a video, “Security is what you have on your grave.” Then indeed, nothing can happen anymore.

If you want security, you don’t want life.

You will usually settle for less. You will usually be too scared to take risks. You will usually be too scared of going against the norm. Because that’s security. You feel secure in your body when you don’t stick out. When you do as you were told to do.

When you want security, you often want comfort.

But you don’t grow in comfortable situations. You grow when you’re challenged.

The biggest learning lessons in my life didn’t appear when I felt comfortable.

They happened when I was either so uncomfortable or in the middle of a challenge or even a painful situation. It doesn’t mean pain is necessary to grow. But sometimes I realized I wouldn’t have changed otherwise. The pain becomes bigger when we’re unwilling to adapt, change or transform.

When the heart screams “Yes” and our mind goes “No” or vice versa.

When we do things and say yes to tasks and people when deep down the heart screams “no”.

You have to choose who you trust.

Do you choose life or security? Do you choose your heart or your mind to guide you?

Do you choose to do it like everyone else does and most likely follow society's expectations, or do you do what feels most aligned with your heart even though it may go against all expectations?

You choose.

Sometimes people say they don’t have any other choice and my younger self thought the same. Today I am convinced we all have a choice. Not choosing is also a choice.

10 August 2025 by Laura Becker