5 Deep Shifts I Didn’t Expect: What Happens When You Quit a Job That’s Burning You Out

Leaving my job was one of the most terrifying and liberating things I’ve ever done.

The minute I pulled out of the parking lot for the last time, something shifted. The air in my car felt different. And the saying isn’t wrong, I truly felt a weight lift from my shoulders and fly right out the window. For the first time in a long time, I felt weightless. I could breathe again.

That breath didn’t erase everything I had just walked away from, and it didn’t magically dissolve the anxiety I’d been carrying. But it gave me space, space to feel, space to notice, space to recognize just how much I was still holding onto.

It wasn’t that the anxiety or the tension began when I left. It had been there all along. I had just been too deep inside of it to see it clearly. Once I had time and distance, I started to notice it all. The way a text message could make my chest tighten. The constant low-level dread of being on-call. The inability to fully disconnect, even in my own home, even late at night.

I had spent nine years being a servant to other people’s needs, at the beck and call of clients and company alike. I had clients who would text me at 8:30 at night, while others would send dozens of messages over the course of a weekend, knowing full well I wouldn’t get to them until Monday. When I first started, I had strong boundaries and I wouldn’t work while I was home, or at night, or on the weekends. But over time, those lines blurred. My time was no longer mine. It belonged to everyone else. Every hour, every day, it felt like my energy was already spoken for.

It took walking away to realize how deeply that had affected me.

These are the things that changed and shifted after I left. They weren’t just surface-level changes. They were deep, and in some ways, unexpected. Each one served as a sign that I was slowly coming back to myself.

1. The Anxiety Response That Lingered Finally Let Go

For the first few months after leaving, I noticed how tightly wound I still was. Every time my phone buzzed, I would freeze. My stomach would twist, and my breath would catch.

Even though there were no more client emergencies or last-minute crises, my body hadn’t gotten the memo.

That response was automatic. I didn’t have to think about it. It just happened. And that was the moment I realized how much of my life had been lived in a state of survival. Always on alert. Always preparing for the next demand.

Over time, as I gave myself permission to slow down, my body started to trust again. The anxiety didn’t vanish overnight, but it no longer owned me.

2. My Migraines Went Away

This one honestly shocked me.

For nearly a decade, I had migraines on and off. They would show up randomly, disrupt everything, and become just one more thing I had to power through.

But in the weeks and months after I left my job, they stopped.

Not entirely at first, but enough that I noticed. Once I removed myself from the constant stress, pressure, and urgency, my body stopped reacting with pain. My nervous system no longer felt under attack. And without that fight-or-flight overload, the migraines just stopped coming.

If you're dealing with chronic symptoms like this, it may be worth asking: what does your body need to be free from?

3. My Sleep Re-Regulated After Years of Deprivation

This was the slowest and most sacred shift.

For years, I was getting by on 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. I convinced myself that was normal. Necessary, even. But when I finally left, I allowed my natural rhythm to take back over.

I started sleeping 13 to 14 hours at a time. Not because I wanted to, because I needed to.

Eventually, the oversleeping tapered off. My body adjusted. And now, I consistently sleep 9 hours a night, every night. No more crash weekends. No more burnout naps. Just deep, restorative, regular sleep.

4. I Learned to Understand My Emotions Differently

When you're stuck in survival mode, there's no room to feel. You're too busy responding, reacting, and holding it all together.

That was me, constantly solving problems, managing chaos, holding everything up. Especially as a general manager, I was responsible for too much and rarely had a moment to process what any of it actually felt like.

But once the noise stopped, the emotions came rushing in.

I didn't even know what I was feeling at first. But over time, I started to listen. And then I started to understand.

The difference between burnout and boredom. Between fear and intuition. Between stress and misalignment. Now, I honor what I feel, and use it as guidance instead of something to shove down.

5. I Finally Came Back to Myself

Not just physically. Not just mentally. But fully.

For the first time in years, I was living in a body that felt calm. I had space to think, move, create, rest. I could eat slowly. Walk outside. Enjoy silence. I began to notice the smallest details again, the sunlight through the trees, the sound of wind, the rhythm of my own breath.

I wasn’t surviving anymore. I was living.

Every moment of presence reminded me of who I really am, and how far I’d drifted from that. I’m not here to be constantly available, productive, or overwhelmed. I’m here to live in integrity with my truth. To create. To lead. To live in alignment.

A Note to Anyone Standing at the Edge

If you're standing at your own threshold, wondering if life could feel different, it can.

Leaving a job that’s draining your soul won’t fix everything overnight, but it will create the space you need to heal. To recalibrate. To return to yourself.

These shifts didn’t happen because I quit a job. They happened because I finally started listening to myself, and honoring what I heard.

You’re allowed to build a life that supports your nervous system, your joy, and your dreams. You’re allowed to step away from what no longer fits. And you’re absolutely allowed to come home to yourself.

✧ Want support on your journey?

Start here with Ignite & Align, my self-paced program designed to help you reconnect with your intuition, rediscover your rhythm, and realign your life.

Or come experience sisterhood and sacred restoration in the next Illuminate Circle Gathering, held monthly.

You don’t have to walk through this threshold alone.