About

I had the degrees, the ambition, and a plan. Then the constraints changed.

I’m Megan Campbell. I earned two mechanical engineering degrees expecting to build a demanding career and support myself.

My health changed the path I expected.

Now my health is more stable, and I have more capacity to pursue that goal.

The challenge is building greater financial independence without sacrificing my health—or the relationships, experiences, and joy that make the life worth living.

That is what Engineering My Best Life is about.

Designing a life I love—and figuring out how to afford it.

The Path I Didn’t Expect

My health became the problem I had to solve first.

I earned my B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University.

My health deteriorated during graduate school, and by 2014 the career path I expected was on hold.

Eventually, I was diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder that can affect the body in wide-ranging ways.

For years, managing my health took much of the capacity I had available.

Today, my health is more stable. Maintaining it still takes medical care, strength training, recovery, and ongoing management.

As more of my life opened back up, I was fortunate to have the support and resources to enjoy it—ordinary good days, time with family and friends, dinners out, football games, adventures, and travel.

The point of getting my life back was to live it.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed—and neither are the physical abilities I have today.

The Foundation I’m Building From

I’m not starting from zero—and I’m not going to pretend that I am.

I’ve been very fortunate.

My family has helped support me financially, and I have also benefited from investments that grew over time.

I’ve earned income through part-time and independent work, but my earned income has not historically covered the full cost of my life.

I’m deeply grateful for that support and financial foundation.

Those resources are part of my long-term security and medical safety net.

I want to build from that foundation—not simply spend it down.

What I Want to Build

I’m not designing a life from scratch. I already have one I love.

I’m figuring out how that life needs to evolve so I can take greater financial ownership of it—and make it work financially, physically, and practically over time.

Some parts of my life may need to change. The goal is to understand what matters most, what is sustainable, and what is worth changing.

I want meaningful, challenging work that lets me learn, contribute, and keep growing—while building greater financial independence.

I want to maintain the health that makes this life possible and build greater security for the future. I also want time with the people I love and the freedom to travel and have meaningful experiences along the way.

I want the present and the future to work.

Living is the point.

Why “Engineering My Best Life”?

Engineering is the method.

It describes how I naturally approach complicated problems:

Define the problem → Gather the data → Test → Measure + Analyze → Revise

Real life is messier than an engineering model. Priorities compete. Conditions change. And something that looks optimal on paper can be a terrible decision in practice.

The cheapest answer is not automatically the best answer.

The highest salary is not automatically the best career.

Data first. Optimization second.

Follow the Work

I don’t know how this story ends.

I’m using real data to understand what the life I want requires, testing ways to fund it sustainably, improving the systems around it, and seeing what works.

The individual questions and decisions will change.

The larger question guiding all of it — THE ENGINEERING PROBLEM — is:

How do I finance a life I love without sacrificing my health to do it?