Anything But Linear: Redefining Success with Rose Ann Mullet

In this episode, Rose Ann Mullet doesn't hold back about the chaos of switching careers mid-pandemic while pregnant, finishing a master's degree with a newborn, and eventually walking away from teaching altogether.

She and Jenna get into the specifics, like why she wore safety goggles to teach while pregnant, what it actually felt like to leave a profession she excelled at, and the moment she realized her childhood writing dream was burning her out instead of lighting her up.

They talk through the guilt of feeling like you're failing everywhere, the surprising relief of redefining ambition, and why asking "what would my tombstone say?" changed how Rose Ann thinks about success entirely.

Key Takeaways
🎯 Career paths twist and turn in ways you never expect, especially when marriage and motherhood enter the picture
👶 Managing work during COVID with a newborn meant every single minute had to count, there was zero room for casual water cooler time
💍 Rose Ann's husband took over cooking when she was pregnant and never stopped, which shows how much the little decisions about who does what can reshape your entire life
🔄 Some things will break if you drop them (like your kid's health), but most things (laundry, emails, that stack of papers) can absolutely wait
📚 Waking up at 5am to write for years taught her that even the things you love can hollow you out if you're not careful
🏫 She left teaching because fighting with administrators over grades and standards was bleeding into family time, and that wasn't worth it
⏰ After bedtime, you get maybe an hour to yourself, your spouse, or that show you've been trying to finish for three months
🎓 Her years in the classroom convinced her that helicopter parenting backfires, kids need to struggle and fail while they're still at home
💭 What looked like ambition at 18 (becoming a bestselling author) looks completely different at 30-something with a four-year-old who needs you
🔄 Your capacity changes day to day, and giving everything you actually have is different than giving some imaginary 110% all the time