Drawing by worry__lines

Ready for the World

Vicki Tan
4 min readAug 4, 2019

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To be played while reading 🎶

Recently, I left my full-time role at a company with an ambitious mission of bringing health and happiness to the world. The paradox of being stressed out while working on a meditation app is surprising to many. Yet, a tech startup is still that, no matter the subject matter or surrounding perfect weather.

Things were looking great. I had been promoted, was managing a talented new designer, and had given several international conference talks. Past-Vicki would never have imagined future-Vicki being in such an exciting position.

Still, somehow — I wasn’t thriving. Despite things looking rosy on the surface, it boiled down to not being championed. I was a swimmer going against the current.

Drawing by worry__lines

Over the last year, I’ve invested in regularly seeing a therapist and a life coach. Together, they have helped me better listen to my inner voices and identify my core values. One of these values is ready for the world (yeah, like the band!) and at the heart of that is seeking out adventures that challenge me; explorations from which I can learn and grow. Because that value wasn’t being fulfilled, I often found myself daydreaming about the next big…

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Vicki Tan

Light sleeper, heavy dreamer. Design @Pinterest. Prev @Spotify @Headspace, @Lyft, @Google