This Friday, May 8th, I am moderating a discussion on Ditching the 9–5 and Creating a Portfolio Career (REGISTER HERE).

Part of what prompted me to do this event came after I was out to dinner with a group of girlfriends, and the common theme that kept surfacing was this quiet sense of malaise.

Sluggish. Off our game. Uneasy. Uninspired. Blah.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared about my own career crisis (BLOG) and how it led me to “amputate” certain activities to create more space in my life. That decision has absolutely made a difference in my overall outlook.

But what my friends and I were talking about felt bigger than just work.

It was an overall lack of enthusiasm for life. A vague heaviness tied to everything … stress, world events, burnout.

A mix of fatigue and emotional fog that’s hard to name, but very real when you feel it.

Yet we almost felt guilty saying it out loud.

Because on paper? Our lives are good. Stable. Comfortable. Full of things to be grateful for.

What we realized is this: you can have a good life and still feel malaise.

No coincidence, a couple of days after our dinner, I heard about a study where participants were asked to stand at the bottom of a steep hill and estimate how steep it was.

Then they repeated the exercise but this time, standing next to another person.

Consistently, when someone wasn’t standing alone, the hill didn’t look as steep.

That stayed with me.

Because it’s exactly what happens when I’m with those same girlfriends whether at dinner, at a card game, just being together. Something shifts. Things feel lighter. More manageable.

That study put language to something I already knew:

Community doesn’t remove the hill—but it changes how steep it feels.

And right now, with so much uncertainty in the world and increasing pressure at work, that matters more than ever.

How does this relate to building a portfolio career?

Yes, coming to the webinar on Friday is a way to connect and be in community, to not feel like you’re standing at the bottom of the hill alone.

But it’s also something more.

If you’ve been feeling like the work you’re doing no longer fits.

If staying where you are feels draining.

If the thought of starting over or redesigning your career into something with more flexibility and agency feels overwhelming.

Of course it does. That’s the hill.

And from the bottom, it can look impossibly steep.

But what if you didn’t have to stand there alone? This week try this:

• Invite someone to coffee that you have been thinking about for a while

• Arrange a small brunch with a group of former career colleagues, friends, or people you admire (I bet I would come 😊)

• Sign up for a workout class or learn Mahjong at your local community center

• Come to the Friday webinar. (SAVE YOUR SPOT) Learn with other women what a portfolio career entails.

• Join Career Alchemy Academy (WORK WITH ME) Be in a space with other women standing at the bottom of their own hills

Because something shifts when you’re not alone.

The weight you’ve been carrying starts to feel lighter.
The malaise begins to lift.
Your inspiHERation comes back.

And with it … your energy, your laughter, your sense of possibility.

The hill doesn’t disappear, it just no longer feels impossible.