Flying First Class, Losing Myself

My journey to self-love and realignment led me to reroute my career.

I was flying first class, but I felt like I was crashing. Somewhere over the country — maybe the third or fourth trip that month — I looked out the window and realized something terrifying: I’d traded my family and identity for frequent flyer miles and fleeting prestige.

I’ve been on over 1,500 flights in 19 years. I told myself I was doing it for them, my family, to give them a good life, but up there, midair, it hit me: This wasn’t a good life — not for them, not for me. I had given everything to the organization. I withheld nothing. I sacrificed myself. I sacrificed us.

It was around the COVID-19 pandemic when the weight of it all landed. My marriage was ending. My sense of self was unraveling. I started therapy. I called in a few close friends who actually cared about my well-being. I hired an executive coach. I began the long, humbling work of finding the real me — the one not built on applause and achievement but on something truer.

That’s when I saw it: This all started in childhood. I had learned early that performing was the price of love, that if I just achieved enough, impressed enough, succeeded enough, maybe I’d be worthy. I lived like that for decades. Corporate America rewarded it, titles and bonuses reinforced it — but it was a lie.

I realized I am enough without performance. I am worthy of love for simply being Eric — not the version the world applauds but the one God created. That truth wrecked me, and it rebuilt me.

Since then everything changed. I stopped leading for approval and started leading from alignment. I became a five-time marathon finisher with a goal to run all seven World Major Marathons. (Three down, four to go — London 2026 is next.)

I partnered with Team World Vision to help bring clean water to kids in Africa. We’re building wells, spreading hope, and working to end the clean water crisis.

And I launched Inspo Strategic Advising & Coaching because I felt called to help leaders in corporate America lead differently, holistically. We’ve developed frameworks to help build “The Inspired Culture” — a way of leading that prioritizes people over performance and purpose over profit.

But none of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t learned to love myself first, if I hadn’t decided that who I am is more important than what I do.

To my fellow CEOs, if you feel like you’re winning on paper but empty in your soul — pause, look out the window, and ask yourself: Is this really the life I want? It’s never too late to reroute the flight path.

About the Author

Eric Himes