A little over a year ago, I was asked to submit a chapter for the new book “The 10 Habits of Highly Successful Women,” edited by Glynnis MacNicol and Rachel Sklar. At the time, I was confused: While I had once been very successful, at that particular moment I didn’t feel so super successful. I was a freelancer who was just about to run out of her savings. Below is a summary and excerpt of the chapter that appears in the book, available on Amazon.

Four years ago, I did the unthinkable (at least to my hard-working Midwestern family). I quit my job. Without another one lined up. And it wasn’t just any old job — I was the deputy editor for the New York Post’s famed Page Six column. I was on TV, had scored on-air regular gigs with “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider,” and was financially stable for the first time in my life. That was the bright side. The downside was … I was miserable. I felt trapped in a job I’d fallen into, that I had no interest in, and I was ironically stuck in a small world that was ruled by Kim Kardashian’s big booty.

The result was a deep depression that affected all areas of my life. So, I pulled the ripcord. I left everything I’d known for the last decade … I collected my toys, cleaned out my office, and went home.

Oddly enough, while I couldn’t go beyond a four-block radius of my apartment, I found that I could pack a bag and fly 4,000 miles away.

I thought of my childhood dream of traveling the world and exploring foreign lands. During the dark days at the newspaper, I would fantasize about being anywhere but there — and that anywhere usually involved a camel ride. It reminded me of how brave I used to be — how after college I moved to London for two years and then went to India, Nepal, and Thailand for six months with only $1,500 in my pocket. I remember being so intimidated by the thought of going to London and India (which in 1997 was very rustic and not high on anyone’s travel list) that I put it off for months, thinking, “I can’t do this.” When I finally did it, I was furious with myself for not doing it sooner because it had been so easy.

I wanted to be brave again.

I wanted to realize a dream that was my own and didn’t involve applying a mask of thick makeup before stepping onstage into an inauthentic role I’d forced myself to play.

So I packed a bag and left. I spent every last cent I had saved. And it was so worth it. Click here for what I learned.