Ellie (not her name) needs a mountain to climb and she doesn’t have one.

What’s her story? She gets her kicks from challenges. The bigger the stretch, the greater the risk, the more exhilarated she feels.  Right now she’s feeling as empty as her horizon is flat. She doesn’t have a mountain to climb.

She joined her company over 20 years ago, fresh out of college with a degree no one wanted. She was part of the new migration; graduates grazing on whatever was available, grateful for what they could get, having launched themselves when energy, enthusiasm, and opportunity were in short supply.

Ellie started out as a temp, then an administrative assistant in the marketing department of a large financial services organization. She had more time than work to keep her busy, so she improvised. She created internal newsletters, organized seminars, and did whatever she could to crank up morale. She was a resounding, although underpaid, success.

She capitalized on her ability to intuitively understand what was needed without knowing why; followed her hunches, backed them up with drive and determination, and quickly rose through the ranks.

She’s now in the executive suite of a Fortune 50 company. Her office walls bear testimony to her accomplishments. She’s been profiled in business magazines and touted in the popular press. With each substantive success has come an exhilaration that was immediately followed by depression. She has literally been up one side and down the other.

Ellie’s burning out. She wants something more and something less in her life and she doesn’t have a clue what one or the other would look like. Her lights are flickering and she’s scared they’ll go out.

You may not have had the soaring success of someone like Ellie, but I bet you know the roller coaster feelings she’s had to deal with:

It’s the start of a project and you’re on a high. You’re creating, designing, collaborating on ideas with like-minded people all filled with positive expectations and the rush of “anything’s possible”. As the project takes shape and design gives way to process, your energy and desire begins to sag. Details put you in the doldrums. You feel frustration and agitation with the project you once loved. You’re over it. If you’re lucky you can hand it off to the people who love implementation. If they’re lucky, they hand it off to the people who love to maintain. Lucky or not, one thing is for sure; you’re ready for the next challenge.

When it’s early in your career, the projects and opportunities keep coming. You find the action and put yourself in the middle of it. With every success (and you’re too afraid of failing not to succeed) comes another challenge, another mountain to climb. You’re no longer in the middle of the fray; you’re leading the charge. You’re moving up, into thin air, where everyone can see you. Still, you are compelled to do more. Then you reach the place where grabbing the next rung means stretching farther than you like, risking more than you like, and despite yourself, you’re beginning to question, “is it still worth it?”

Ellie knows that she loves challenge. What she’s forgotten is that she needs the comraderie of like minded people as she grapples with it.

Ellie loves recognition (promotions, salary increases) that comes from attaining her goals. What she’s forgotten is the higher you go the more alone you get. What she needs the most and has the least of is a sense of community with whom she can share the excitement.

She’s decided to step away from the applause, adulation and isolation of a one woman high wire act.  She’s going to start over with people she likes, doing work that matters. She’ll take on a challenge that others won’t, not because they can’t, but because she values the outcome enough to try.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.joycerichman.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.