Background

I remember like it was yesterday. I was 19, walking to my organic chemistry class to take my final exam at The University of Texas at Austin. I felt sick to my stomach, shaking, and out of mind and body. My hands were cold, clammy, and full of sweat. That shattering day marked my first battle with anxiety. I wanted to vomit right then and there. Over the course of three decades, I battled anxiety attacks through college, my first programming job, graduate school, and 15 years in management consulting.

Not uncommon among high achievers, I chased status and prestige for most of my young adult life. I earned my undergrad from the McCombs School of Business at UT and later an MBA from Vanderbilt. After business school, I stepped into consulting — first at Deloitte in Strategy & Operations, then nine years at a mid-size consultancy, where I rose to Senior Manager. On paper, it looked impressive. Behind the polished titles, though, every client presentation, every deliverable, every sales pitch came with the same familiar weight: anxiety sitting on my shoulder, whispering that I might fall apart at any moment.

What I Did

Over the past decade, I tried everything including journaling, meditation, and dieting just to get an edge. Some of it worked and some of it didn’t. I aimed to bullet proof my mind and body such that the nauseous feeling I had when I was 19 would never resurface. Of course, I wasn’t free of anxiety attacks. I’ve had my share of embarrassing client moments. As my body of knowledge around mental wellness developed from direct experience in a high pressure career, I took observed, learned, and experimented.

I know I’m not alone. A lot of consultants I worked with felt it too, hurting their ability to perform when it counts. Ultimately, I want to help consultants perform at their best without burning out. If I can spare even a few people the unnecessary suffering I carried for years, then I’ll have made this journey worthwhile.

Throughout my consulting career, I’ve talked to countless people within and outside of my company who shared similar experiences - the Sunday scaries, jumping to conclusions, catastrophizing trivial events, and much more. I felt all of these emotions and thoughts constantly. What’s surprising in retrospect is I thought I was the only one, but I wasn’t. After several years sharpening and applying my tools and routines to combat forces in my head, I strengthened my armor with practice. This blog is where I’ll share those lessons, so you don’t have to fight this battle alone.

What’s In It For You

I’ll be sharing through blog posts, newsletters, and eventually a community space where consultants can connect openly. Each piece will walk you through real consulting scenarios where anxiety shows up — high-stakes client calls, late-night deliverables, performance reviews — and offer practical ways to navigate them. This isn’t theory; it’s lived experience from years inside the walls of big consultancies. Through this content, my goal is to help you quiet the noise, build confidence, and sustain a career you don’t have to burn out of. If you’ve ever felt anxiety stealing your edge, you’ll find tools here to take it back.

If this hits home, subscribe. Let’s fight this together.