Hey, what's good? This is Rich, and you're listening to Paychecks and Balances, where it's all about showing you what's possible personally, professionally, and financially, all while having some fun along the way. And this episode is definitely of a personal nature since it's been a while since I've dropped anything, so I wanted to give you an update on what's been going on. And if you're new to the show, I encourage you to go back and check out some of the older episodes, anyone before this one, to get a sense of what P&B is really about. Again, this one is much more of an update since it's been a little while since I released anything. So first things first,

I've been on a mental health leave from work since the beginning of September. And when I took

that leave, I also said, you know what, I'm not going to create this stress and pressure for myself

to try and do a million other things while I'm supposed to be taking this time off. So when I took

that time off, I took that time off. And I'd realize that it'd been

seven years of me just being on the go. And seven years ago was when I first moved across

the country to California to start this job at Google, to start working in Silicon Valley.

And since then, I've always been doing something. I've always been working on a podcast,

working on a blog, day job stuff, speaking. There's always been like a million different things that have

been going on at the same time. And within my team, I actually saw people, within my team at work,

I actually saw people creating space for themselves taking the time that they needed. And that

inspired me to do the same because it was

something I was thinking about doing next year. But when I thought about how I felt, because if you

haven't worked in diversity, equity, and inclusion, let me tell you, it is very, very challenging

work. I don't care where you do it. It is very, very challenging work, especially when you are one of the

people impacted by a lot of the institutional policies and things that have been built that make it so hard to work in corporate America in the first place for people that look like me.

So yes, it's going to be that type of episode where I'm just being very candid and honest about some things because it's what I've been thinking about

and it's what I've been learning as I've spent this time being on this leave. And people have

asked me what it's like to have this time to myself and, oh, it must be so great just to be

able to relax. You don't have to think about work. But, yo, the truth is, it's really fucking hard. Oh, and by the way,

there's going to be others swearing in this episode, and I put a parental advisory label on it,

hoping that that would help. But I'm speaking purely 110% candidly today. And the leave has been

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