When Success Stops Feeling Successful
Written by Samantha Swain Melting, Partner at Mayfield Consulting
When Success Stops Feeling Successful
I used to think success meant bigger titles, bigger budgets, and a calendar so full it barely left room to breathe.
For years, I climbed. I showed up. I delivered. I led teams, launched products, drove results. From the outside, I had what many would call a “dream career.” And truthfully, there were moments I was proud of. But somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like mine.
The truth is, I was going through something bigger than a career crossroads. I lost my husband — suddenly and painfully. In an instant, my identity was shattered. I was no longer just a leader, a strategist, a high performer. I was a grieving single mom with two kids looking at me for stability when I could barely hold myself together.
And corporate life doesn’t really make space for that.
Grief Isn’t Linear — And Neither Is Clarity
I tried to go back. I gave my last corporate role everything I had left—hoping routine would bring comfort, that achievement would fill the silence.
But instead, I was met with pressure, politics, and a culture that valued performance over people. Something inside me had changed. I wanted to focus on work that I knew would bring real positive change to people and communities, and I wanted to feel like what I did mattered. I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
So I walked away.
Not for a sabbatical. Not to hit pause. I left to rebuild something real—something rooted in purpose, presence, and a deeper sense of why.
Because sometimes clarity doesn’t arrive in calm. It comes in the middle of the storm.
This Time, It’s Personal
Joining Brian and building Mayfield wasn’t just a career move. It was a life decision. I didn’t want to advise from a distance anymore. I wanted to be in it with clients — solving problems, simplifying chaos, creating impact I could see and feel.
I knew it would be harder. Less glamorous. Less… “status-symbol life.” But I also knew it would be honest.
And it is.
I get to help real businesses make meaningful progress. I get to roll up my sleeves and work alongside people who care — not just about profit, but about doing right by their teams, their customers, and themselves.
I give more now than I ever did in corporate roles— but it comes from a different place. A fuller place. A healed place.
To Anyone in That In-Between
If you’re reading this and feeling stuck, burned out, or like you’re performing a version of success that no longer fits…
I get it. I really do. You’re not broken. You’re becoming. You’re not lost. You’re realigning.
And that’s not the end of the story. It might just be the beginning.