I'm a Quitter - And It's The Best Decision I've Ever Made

Recently I listened to an episode of Emma Chamberlain’s Anything Goes podcast where she talked about quitting in a positive light. If any of you grew up like me you may have also been taught that quitting is not okay. If I signed up for a sport, a club, an extracurricular, or really anything, I had to see it through.

And while this led me to become a very accomplished high schooler—valedictorian, first singles on the tennis team, solos at every choir concert, AP classes, Superiors at State Science Fair and Solo & Ensemble (okay now I’m just showing off)... I was exhausted.

I had an anxiety disorder that controlled my life. I was sleeping five hours a night on a good night. I developed depression and started struggling with suicidal thoughts… shall I go on?

I can’t help but wonder what my high school experience would have been like if I had just let myself take a f*cking break, man. Would I still have gotten into the university I wanted? Would the anxiety and depression still have caught up with me eventually?

Six years later, I still struggle to allow myself to take breaks, but trust, it has gotten much better. While I don’t necessarily think we should encourage quitting, I do believe it can allow us to make space for things that are a better fit. So without further ado, here are some of the things I have quit, and what I chose to do with the space and energy they freed up.

Living in Miami

I moved to Miami, Florida shortly after graduating college in 2024. I had money saved up, a flexible job working for myself, and the desire to experience something new. So I packed up all my belongings, drove 19 hours, and moved into a luxury apartment. It was everything I had imagined.

I had floor-to-ceiling windows in a 15th-floor corner unit with a slight view of the ocean. There was a pool, a hot tub, and a gym. I could walk to Trader Joe’s and stop to get fresh flowers on my way home from the local flower shop. I would go on walks through the park, attend free yoga classes, and watch tropical fish swimming just inches from where I’d sit and watch the sun go down over the bay. I was surrounded by opportunity and tons of people my age. I got whisked away on dates to fancy dinners and invited to fashion shows during Art Basel. Best of all, the sun was shining almost every day.

Sounds amazing, right?

Well it was; for a time. Eventually I started to see the consequences of the deal I had made.

I could no longer see all my favorite people in person. I missed birthday parties, graduations, and family dinners. Sales for my business were down almost 50%.

The dates I went on were with people I could never actually see myself with. Many of the friendships I made were surface level, and I found they only reached out when they needed something from me. My living situation became extremely stressful and uncomfortable. And most of all, the money started running out.

Despite being insanely frugal and hustling to create multiple income streams on top of running my business - nannying, photography, freelance social media work, even putting my Venmo on my Hinge (I made $200 from this, thank you very much), on top of cutting my grocery budget down to less than $3 per meal…

It still wasn’t enough. The life I had designed for myself wasn’t sustainable; and even worse than that, it wasn’t fulfilling.

When I visited home in August of 2025, I was struck by the thought:
“I don’t want to go back.”

This feeling hit me the night before I was supposed to fly back to Miami. Before that moment, anytime I was asked how I was enjoying living in Miami, my mouth would autopilot to:
“I love it. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

While that wasn’t always a lie, there came a point where it simply wasn’t true anymore.

When I returned to Miami, I stepped out of my Uber and almost got hit by a car in front of my apartment. (Thank God I don’t have to deal with Miami drivers anymore.)

I knew right then and there that this feeling wasn’t temporary homesickness. Miami just wasn’t my home anymore.

I started telling my roommates and friends. I distinctly remember one of them doubting me saying,
“I think you just need to wait and think this through.”

But if you know anything about me, it’s that when I know, I know.

Still, I made myself wait a month to be sure this is what I really wanted. By the time September rolled around, I was miserable. I couldn’t stand the thought of staying in Miami for another 9 months until my lease was up. That evening I called my mom, and she booked the flights to move me out on November 30th (God bless her).

Now it’s March, and I haven’t regretted the decision once. Even though I came back during the darkest, coldest time of year and moved back in with my parents (not for much longer, hehe); I can confidently say quitting Miami was 100% the right decision.

I’ll definitely go into more detail about moving back in another blog, but I fear this was supposed to be a list and I’ve already spent 1,097 words on the first bullet point.

Drinking Alcohol

You guys have heard me talk about this quite a bit, so I’ll keep it short. Also, some people who do drink tend to get annoyed when I talk about this a lot (I have a retort to that, but I’m going to keep it to myself for now).

While I never had a problem with alcohol, I noticed that the occasions when I drank were often accompanied by extreme anxiety, the periodic poor decision, and unnecessary spending. To be honest, I simply couldn’t afford to keep drinking when I lived in Miami, where cocktails often cost $25.

It also made me feel like shit.

Eventually I thought:
“Why do I keep indulging in this thing that makes me feel bad and is financially irresponsible?”

So I decided to stop for a couple of months and see how I felt. A couple months turned into a year. A year turned into, “Well… now that I’ve broken the habit, I might as well keep going.” Now I’m at one year and five months and I honestly have no intention of starting again.

I sleep better. I lost weight. I have more energy and more money. I also haven’t had a dance-floor make-out in a very long time, although I wouldn’t be opposed to doing that sober if the right opportunity arose.

Now, the money I would have spent on one cocktail buys me four matchas at my favorite café, and the energy I used to spend experiencing hangxiety is now spent in hot yoga classes with new friends.

Uploading Weekly Podcast Episodes

This one I still occasionally feel a bit guilty about.

In December 2024 I started this podcast/blog. I came in hot, releasing a new episode every week for about 3–4 months. It was a lot of fun; it also absolutely drained my energy unless I happened to be particularly in the mood to record.

The thing about owning a jewelry business is that it requires a lot of creativity. We post on social media every single day. I have to come up with names for every piece we sell, photoshoot inspiration, marketing and sales strategies, displays for in-person locations… the list goes on and on. I’m not sure if there’s any science behind it but I genuinely feel like I have a finite source of creativity each day.

So, expecting myself to come up with a podcast idea, talk about it for an hour, spend three hours editing it, and another hour promoting it was low-key kind of f*cking crazy. Right now, my creative energy needs to be focused on what’s actually making me money. Any leftover energy can go toward creative projects that bring me joy.

Lovely reader, please don’t get me wrong… I adore podcasting and writing these blogs. When the time is right and creativity is flowing out of every hole of my body, you better believe I’ll be holding my little microphone or typing away at 2am for you babes (and also for me).

Since letting go of weekly episodes, I’ve moved past the first burnout period I ever experienced with Millie The Label. I launched three collections, have a fourth on the way, launched a successful program for Ohio State students to create content and promote our jewelry, and developed ideas that led to our best-selling collection ever.

Quitting the unrealistic goal of coming out with a new podcast episode every week allowed me to pour that effort and energy where it mattered most.

My Yoga Studio and Extreme Exercise Habits

This one is a story, let me tell you. But it’s one I’m not quite ready to share yet.

For now, let me just say this…

I was going to a studio up to nine times a week. Yes—nine. I was doing multiple hours of intense yoga at up to 120°F six days a week. I thought this was what health looked like. I thought this meant I was disciplined and committed.

What it actually meant was that I had been drawn into an unhealthy environment and ideology—one that promoted being as thin as physically possible, co-dependence, manipulative behaviors, and a lack of accountability.

It might sound crazy but leaving that studio felt harder and scarier than a breakup.

However, leaving allowed me to begin healing my relationship with my body and exercise. It also taught me an important lesson about boundaries and trusting my gut, even when it’s scary.

I still practice yoga every day and at an advanced level. But it’s on my terms, surrounded by people who make me feel safe and cared for—not just because they’re getting my money, but because they value me as a person. My body now has time to rest and recover, and I’m still achieving my physical goals and advancing in my practice.

Relationships That Don’t Align With Me

This one is definitely the hardest to quit on the list—and something I’m still working on.

When we are young and starting to meet people and develop relationships, I think we’re often just excited that someone is interested in us—whether that’s in a friendship way or a romantic one. It’s exciting to feel chosen. For people (especially women who believe they are unworthy of love), this feeling can be absolutely euphoric. It’s a high that can easily be mistaken for love. At some point, we make the necessary shift from thinking “I want to be chosen” to “I want what’s best for me.”

I’ve had relationships where nothing was majorly wrong—but my gut told me that something was off. As I get closer to my frontal lobe fully developing (thank God), I’ve realized there are certain values that matter deeply to me. Almost every time I felt uncomfortable in a relationship or friendship, it was because our values straight up didn’t align.

One of the first questions I now ask myself is:
“Is this person kind?”

It might sound silly, but once you start paying attention, you realize that genuine kindness is rarer than you might think.

I consider questions like:

• Is this person only nice to me because they’re attracted to me?
  

• How do they treat women they aren’t attracted to?
  

• Does this new friend respect me?
  

• Is she talking shit about all of her other friends to me?

Because if she is… I hate to break it to you, but she’s probably saying the same things about you when you’re not around.

Learning what I want from the people closest to me, and what they want from me, has helped me pour my energy into the right relationships and distance myself from the wrong ones. My circle may be smaller now, but I feel more secure, cared for, and respected than ever before. If the concept that you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with is true; I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being picky.

In conclusion, I used to think quitting meant giving up.

But looking back, many major positive shifts in my life started with letting go of something that was no longer serving me. Miami wasn’t my home. Weekly podcast episodes weren’t sustainable. Many friendships and relationships were wrong for me etc. Quitting those things didn’t make my life smaller, it made space for the things that actually fit.

So no, I don’t think we should quit every time something gets hard. But I do think we should allow ourselves to question if the things we devote ourselves to day in and day out are actively leading us to where we want to be in life. There’s a difference between pushing through a challenge and holding onto something that’s no longer serving you.

Sometimes quitting isn’t failure.

Sometimes it’s the beginning of the rest of your life.