Career Transitions
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The Day the Safety Net Vanished (Part 2): Facing the Dining Room Spreadsheet
Welcome back to Uncharted Rhythm. Last week, I pulled back the curtain on the 45‑day twilight zone — the mask, the diplomacy, and the unexpected validation from my team. But professional support doesn’t pay the bills. The real world was waiting at home. It was time to sit at that beautiful new dining room table,…
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The Day the Safety Net Vanished (Part 1): Maintaining the Façade
To understand the retirement déjà vu I’m feeling today, we have to go back to another mild spring day. I sat at my desk, staring blankly at a stack of paperwork. Just an hour earlier, I had been called into a meeting and told my time as director was coming to an end. Because local…
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Shock and Awe
The Unexpected Mirror: Forced Job Loss vs. Planned Retirement The shock hit before the words fully landed. I was meeting with my boss and told I needed to find a new job. What? Did I just hear what I thought I heard. This can’t be right, can it? I heard the words but they were…