From Wall Street to the Abyss: Why I Walked Away and What I Found There

"You're going to die on this desk."

That was the sentence that changed everything.

After 20+ years in finance, I walked away. No new job lined up. Two kids, a pregnant wife, and a blank page. But it wasn’t burnout that made me leave — it was truth. And the truth was, I didn’t recognize myself anymore.

I recently sat down with Michael Davio Simmonds on the Career Reset Guide podcast to tell the full story. Not the polished version. The real one.

What We Talked About:

• Volatility in the market = volatility in culture“The market is volatile, which when we talk about volatility, all we’re talking about is emotionality.”

• Facing trauma — yours and your ancestors’“You get to heal it backwards.”“Heal for people you’ve never met.”

• The moment I let go of logic“Don’t let logic choke you out.”

• Why the unknown is the real mirror“I wanted to tell the story of ‘I don’t know what I’m gonna do — and I’m still gonna be truthful.’”“If you want to know who you are, go into the abyss.”

• Intuition as a guidepostMeeting my wife “randomly” was no accident — it was intuition, not planning.

• Discipline, patience, and being the glue“If you watch the news, you see the division. My personal mantra is that we need to be the glue. Any situation — find the spot where you can be the glue.”

  
  

I don’t believe in overnight transformations — but I do believe in honest ones.This episode is a look inside what happens when you stop chasing the next job, and start chasing meaning.

Listen to the full episode here:SpotifyAppleBuzzsprout