274 karma · joined July 25, 2011
I'm really sorry about this, both the vuln itself and the delayed comms around it, and really appreciate all the feedback here – everything from disappointment to outrage to encouragement. It holds us accountable to do better, and makes sure we prioritize this moving forward. Thank you so much.
For the former, its probably ideal to pick someone you trust and respect, and try to be clear with them you want critical or constructive feedback.
For the latter, meditation, therapy, and Vedanta-style self-inquiry can all trigger more self-awareness and self-dissolution. As the amygdala shrinks and prefrontal cortex gets more activated, the fear-based, survival-oriented self erodes and you start to be able to see more clearly and objectively.
So many people in the comments mentioned retreats but I'm surprised not a single person mentioned enlightenment. The whole point of retreats is to get you to a point where you willfully and intentionally seek freedom from suffering, but it seems like a ton of people get stuck in the retreat treadmill. Living a happier, more peaceful life is one thing but it's very possible to completely eradicate the subjective experience of suffering (or at least eliminate enough of it that it's largely unnoticeable). Enlightenment is very accessible and super achievable, especially now with the internet.
I highly recommend reading Living Realization (https://www.amazon.com/Living-Realization-Simple-Plain-Engli...) or Falling Into Grace (https://www.amazon.com/Falling-into-Grace-Insights-Suffering...) to see if any of it resonates. Once you get what all this is about then retreats become a practice ground towards a goal rather than a stabilizing mechanism or a way to feel better for a bit.
Byron Katie’s work has been really helpful here for me to weed through + dismantle whatever is causing FUD that blocks motivation. http://thework.com/en
Definitely not a needle in a haystack with a bit of networking. I have a similar story (not even as impressive as yours - 2x return to investors on an acquired seed-stage startup) and in 1-2 months of networking have plenty of inbound from Series B companies looking for VP/C-level folks.
Seems the most likely.