If youâve been in Learning and Development (L&D) for longer than it takes to microwave your lunch, you already know: this job is a wild ride.
One day youâre launching a program youâve spent six months building, learners are engaged, leaders are praising it, and your feedback form has you tearing up with joy. The next day? Budgetâs frozen, your projectâs put âon pause,â and someone cheerfully asks if you can âjust turn it into an eLearning.â
Itâs giving: emotional whiplash.
But even with the chaos, thereâs a reason we stay. L&D is one of the most rewarding, misunderstood, and emotionally complex careers out there. In this post, Iâm unpacking the highs that keep us energized, the lows that leave us wondering if itâs worth it, and how to lead through it all without burning out, or giving up.
So, buckle in. Weâre going deep.
Letâs start with the good stuff. The pure magic moments that remind you, âYes. THIS is why I do this work.â
You know them.
The learner who tells you your course helped them get promoted.
The leader who has an honest-to-goodness mindset shift during your workshop and starts treating their team like actual humans.
The manager who was the king of micromanagement… now coaching their team like a pro. And no, youâre not dreaming.
These arenât just feel-good stories. These are career-defining wins. Theyâre proof that the work we do in L&D ripples out into real peopleâs livesâsometimes in big, life-changing ways.
Take one of my clients, for example. When she joined the Talent Development Academy, she had zero confidence, felt stuck in her role, and didnât see herself as a leader. Fast-forward six months: sheâs rolling out a talent strategy aligned with business goals and leading exec conversations like a boss. That transformation? Thatâs the power of L&D.
And itâs not just the individual stories. Sometimes, we get to see organizational change on a bigger scale:
When L&D is done well, itâs not an afterthought. Itâs the infrastructure of performance.
Okay, now letâs get honest.
Because while the wins are real, the lows? Theyâre just as real, and way more frequent than weâd like.
Sometimes itâs the obvious stuff:
Other times, itâs death by a thousand micro-dismissals.
You pitch a thoughtful strategy, radio silence.
You build a smart solution, only for the org to change direction mid-rollout.
Youâre asked to âfixâ a problem you werenât consulted on in the first place.
Then thereâs the identity crisis.
L&D is still so often seen as a support function, not a strategic one. Weâre brought in late (if at all), asked to âmake it engaging,â and left out of the conversations that could have actually shaped outcomes.
And when no one shows up to your beautifully crafted session? That invisible weight hits hard.
Worse still? You start to question if any of it even matters. Youâre giving it your all, but people still think L&D equals âthe onboarding people.â Or worse, âthe fun committee.â
But listen: itâs not you. Itâs a system still learning to value what we do. That doesn’t make it easier, but it explains why so many of us feel exhausted, overlooked, and on the brink of burnout.
Letâs just call it what it is: emotional whiplash.
Youâre coaching a leader through a breakthrough at 10amâŠ
Defending the existence of your function by noon.
Youâre rolling out a new program that aligns with business strategyâŠ
But your success metric is âhow many people showed up.â đ
In one week, you might be:
All of it, without anyone asking how you’re developing yourself.
Thatâs when the doubts creep in.
Am I keeping up?
Am I falling behind?
Will AI take my job?
Hereâs the truth: AI can do a lot. But it canât replicate your ability to read a room, build trust, design behavior change, or create safe spaces for growth.
Still, the field is evolving. And we canât stay still.
The secret to survival isnât just resilience. Itâs evolution.
Itâs making sure your role doesnât get reduced to reactive support. Itâs about showing up as a strategic leader in every room youâre in, and the ones youâve been excluded from, too.
This isnât about blaming the system or playing the victim. This is about stepping fully into your leadership.
Because youâre not âjustâ L&D.
You are the architect of growth. The builder of capability. The enabler of performance.
But to show up like that, you need more than inspiration. You need frameworks. Language. Tools. A support system that helps you stop reacting and start leading.
Thatâs why I created the L&D Impact Toolkit, a free resource to help you move from feeling invisible to being indispensable.
Inside, youâll get:
No fluff. No jargon. Just practical tools to help you lead today.
If youâve ever found yourself saying, âThereâs got to be a better way,â this is it.
And when youâre ready for more than just tools, if youâre done trying to figure this all out alone, then the Talent Development Academy is your next step.
This isnât theory. This is the roadmap to leading L&D like it actually matters, because it does.
Inside the Academy, youâll:
You donât have to carry it all by yourself anymore.
Youâve spent so long enabling everyone else. Itâs time someone enabled you.
If youâve made it this far, hereâs what I want you to know:
Youâre not doing it wrong. Youâre doing one of the most complex, courageous, and misunderstood jobs in the business.
Yes, itâs hard. Yes, itâs exhausting.
But itâs also freaking amazing.
You get to shape careers. Influence cultures. Build better companies.
Thatâs not a small thing.
So if this blog resonated, send it to your L&D friends. Share it with your team. Let them know theyâre not alone.
Because weâre not here to complain.
Weâre here to change things.
đ And thereâs no other way to say this, weâre friends now.
I work with corporate clients carving out strategic Talent Development plans. Iâve been where you are now, and not only have I put in all the hard work and made all the mistakes that finally enabled me to get to a place of progression and impact that we talk of, but Iâve placed it all together in a signature program, The Talent Development AcademyÂź.