Tag Archives: retirement

No Clear Path Forward

Posted on September 22, 2017 | 1 comment

I’ve learned over the past four years that the word, ‘transition,’ is a loaded term. We use it to describe everything from the vital first efforts of a new presidential administration, a.k.a. a transition team, to the heavily scrutinized transition of celeb, actress and athlete Caitlyn Jenner.  What does transition mean for you?

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Terrible, Awful, No Good Barriers

Posted on July 19, 2017 | Leave a comment

It has been a long time since I fought back tears to get through a day. Have you ever had one of those days? Or weeks? It seems as if I am holding on by my finger nails of late. What could possibly be going on? And more importantly, why is this happening now?

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A Baseline and Learning

Posted on May 19, 2017 | Leave a comment

“Can you tell us why you chose this?” I asked at the end of an event I attended with my daughter. We were at a seminar for middle schoolers sponsored by the Math Department at Dartmouth College. It was fun if you like number theory and Euclidean geometry. I was hoping that my daughter would leave the event with more than a few cool math tricks. I hoped she would have some perspective on the choices made by the those who led the discussions. With this in mind, I asked the above question of a newly-minted math professor. I followed up with “What path did you take from middle school to college professor?”  His response was surprising although not unique. Continue reading →

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Choices Beyond Expectations

Posted on April 11, 2017 | 1 comment

“You are an ever-moving mark,” said Jessica Donohue at the Girl Scouts of Eastern MA’s Leading Women Awards last week.  Ms. Donohue, who was recognized for her achievements as EVP of State Street, stood out from among the other awardees for her honesty and humility.  She  talked about a label ascribed to her as a young person, ADHD. While it has traveled with her, her vitality is outside of it. She was clear in her thinking about labels or the expectations that go along with them. “Don’t box me in. Encourage me to be more.  Learn more. Resist naming – everywhere.” Continue reading →

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How to Move Forward….II

Posted on March 27, 2017 | Leave a comment

One day I had two back-to-back interviews that ended with the interviewees asking me roughly the same question. It went something like, ‘I know where I’m at isn’t right, but I am not really sure what I want to do next.”  I found it incredibly interesting because the circumstances that brought these two women to the same question couldn’t have been more different. One was regrouping thanks to a harsh corporate experience and the other was challenged by an empty-nest. This coincidence got me thinking that their experiences didn’t differ all that much from my own.  After all, I arrived at transition with a deep belief that something more was possible for me. But what?  How do we move forward from moments like these? Continue reading →

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How to Move Forward

Posted on March 14, 2017 | Leave a comment

“How do I move forward?” Asked a mid-thirties woman who sat in an audience of leaders. “I don’t know what I want to do next. I know where I am now is not right.”  She had a great job, one that had instant credibility with everyone who sat in the room with her that night.  She told us that she knew she needed to explore something else. Her current role wasn’t right. But she had no answer to the question of, what’s next? That was the show stopper. She’d been facing that decision for quite a while. Stalled. Unhappy. Ready to move.  Or was she? Continue reading →

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Time for a change….

Posted on February 9, 2017 | Leave a comment

Has the New Year brought change for you?  Some of us plan changes like, “Get a new job.” “Retire.” “Change my attitude toward food or wellness.” “Regroup  with my siblings on decisions related to my mother’s care.”  For others, change is thrust upon us unexpectedly, like the woman who shared with me that she had a miscarriage over the holidays. This wrenching event seemed to smother her plans for change in the New Year.  Still other changes influence us collectively, like those related to our new administration.

Change felt omnipresent this January. It was everywhere I turned. Or was it?  Was it change or something more that I kept encountering?

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Resolutions

Posted on January 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

“Can I finally start?”  It was a question that popped into my head unwittingly as I sat in my office last week.  I was trying to shake off the exhaustion from the holidays and begin an avalanche of work that I’d queued up for the New Year.  Start what?   In acknowledging the question, I felt as if I was on the edge of tears.  It took only an instant for this feeling to pass.  Even so I realized I’d crossed an important milestone for my transition, one that makes me think about New Year’s Resolutions and new beginnings a little differently. Continue reading →

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The Gift of Knowing Ourselves

Posted on December 13, 2016 | 4 comments

“I’m not ready,” said Margaret.  We were having coffee in a quirky independent coffee shop and talking about her job search.  The search hadn’t really started, it was simply brewing on her ‘to do’ list.  Margaret is a tour de force locally.  She is a newly divorced woman, the parent of two high-school aged children and the volunteer chair of a group that established a multi-million dollar land trust in a neighboring town.  This little endeavor is complete with a working organic farm and an impressive educational center.  Not ready?  How can this type of person not be ready?

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Voice Interrupted

Posted on November 19, 2016 | 1 comment

I heard Hillary Clinton’s voice for the first time last weekend – yes, days after the surprising and heartbreaking outcome of the 2016 Election.  I heard it in Kate McKinnon’s moving rendition of Len Cohen’s Hallelujah on Saturday Night Live.  ‘How could this be?’  You might ask.  Weren’t we all party to a near continuous stream of voices from both candidates over the past months?   Even with all of that volume I was struck with the weight of the words conveyed by McKinnon.  It reminded me of the importance of voice, one of transition’s most critical tools.  Did we hear Hillary’s voice?  Do we hear yours? Continue reading →

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