Tag Archives: women’s transition

Reframing Our Decisions

Posted on October 2, 2017 | Leave a comment

This morning as I was walking our dog I found a painted rock by the side of the road. It had an inscription that read, Think Outside the Box.  The unexpected treasure is a part of our town’s kindness project. Up until this chance encounter I didn’t really ‘get’ the program. Now, I have a different opinion. I smiled brightly when I found the rock. The inscription felt as if it was meant only for me. Yes, outside the box is a place I inhabit comfortably. I’ve been amazed at the goodness I’ve met there. What awaits you outside of the box? 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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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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Moving Forward

Posted on October 23, 2016 | 2 comments

“Push off into the middle of the river,” intones a line from a poem featured in Hopi Elder Speaks.  A friend sent it to me.  She is a powerful force whom I’ve met through my work with women and transition.  An octogenarian, she leads a global not-for-profit, participates in several wisdom networks and is in a constant state of organizational prep for events, issues and causes that are important to her.  I met with her to gain some knowledge about how to architect what today looks like an impossible task.  My quest?  I’d like to educate women everywhere about the importance of transitioning.  My new friend gave me volumes of contacts and helpful specifics.  But she also gave me something more important.  The courage to keep going. Continue reading →

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Our Elusive Self

Posted on August 13, 2016 | 1 comment

Have you ever felt as if you are bumping into the same issue over and over again?   Everywhere you turn?   Such events may be reminding you that it is time to start your own business or leave a fallen marriage or pick up the phone to call a long-silent friend.  I am a little disturbed and amazed at how frequently I keep bumping into something of my own lately.   It keeps happening.  I can’t name it although I think it has something to do with identity.  My identity?   I’ve been transitioning for the better part of five years. Could there be more to do?

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Giving Ourselves Permission

Posted on July 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

“I gave myself permission – thanks to being a part of this group ,” said Stephanie.  She was crediting a multi-session working group that I put together to help me develop a workbook, a companion to my book, Women & Transition.    Over the course of our sessions together we learned that Stephanie had been laid off a year earlier from her job as a research and development manager for a tech behemoth, a job that she’d held in some form or another for almost twenty years.  We also learned that our work together helped her dignify a small voice in her head that kept leading her away from R&D and tech.  She was excited and scared about her new path.  I was really struck by her words.  I felt as if she and I were in the same place.   How could this be?   My transition is farther down the garden path than hers.   Isn’t  it?   What was it about permission that spoke to me?

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Knowing

Posted on May 16, 2016 | 1 comment

“I don’t know,” said my twelve-year-old daughter earlier this week in response to a benign question I asked her about choosing a movie.  Her tone was light-hearted if not a little distracted.  My heart fell as I listened to her response.  How could she not know?  I hoped we’d avoid this unknowing if only for a few more years.  Have you ever heard yourself say a similar statement?  I don’t know. Continue reading →

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A little courage

Posted on March 7, 2016 | 1 comment

“That takes a lot of courage,” commented a journalist who joined me for a breakfast conversation a few weeks ago.  Her remark followed my story of transition, a route that caused me to step away from a path I’d pursued for more than twenty years.   She was interviewing me for a publication.  I told her about  my observation that transitions occur when there is a shift in what holds value or meaning to us.   It is that moment – that shift – when we’re faced with a choice that so captivates me.  Do we move?   Why? Or why not?  Honestly as she remarked about ‘courage‘ I couldn’t help but wonder if it really is the exact opposite…. Continue reading →

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A shield

Posted on February 19, 2016 | 1 comment

“They only talked about their children,” said my exasperated friend Stephanie.  She and her family recently relocated to Phoenix thanks to her husband’s new job.  Once on the ground she met women in various places;  the nursery school, the transfer station, the local IEEE chapter.   She had high hopes when she hosted a networking event in her home.  Needless to say she sounded crestfallen as she described the evening.  Most of those she invited were working part-time or trying to re-engage in the full-time workforce.  A few were entrepreneurs.  “Don’t they get it?”  Continue reading →

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