Reflections The Peak of Prosperity During the peak of my career, I had a gut feeling that I was working in a market bubble. My colleagues, and frankly, everyone in my professional network, were living high on the hog. Lavish corporate parties were the norm, expense accounts were practically unlimited when working with major accounts, […]
Author: Sarah
Breaking the Emotional Bond to Place
Reflections When I moved up to Colorado from Texas as a young 20-something, I initially assumed that the Pikes Peak Region would be a temporary stopping point on my journey onward. Perhaps my next stop would be the inland Pacific Northwest (i.e. Idaho panhandle or Montana). As beautiful as Colorado was, my heart was on […]
Corporate Stockholm Syndrome
Reflections In this final segment of my career, I’ve worked for “Mega Corp”, Fortune 100 behemoths. Prior to this stage, I worked for much smaller companies, mostly software firms with fewer than 1,000 employees. I had a very scary realization shortly after onboarding at Mega Corp 1 (which has been confirmed at Mega Corp 2): […]
The Catharsis of Clearing Out Stuff
Reflection Twenty years in one house. That’s a lot of time for a lot of stuff to accumulate. Even as I don’t consider myself a hoarder, clutter bug or even someone who tends to hold onto stuff too long, I’m shocked at the amount of stuff cluttering our home. We are moving soon, certainly within […]
I’m no stranger to risk, but early retirement is scary
Reflection I spent a lot of my 30s and 40s chasing mountain summits. I finished the Colorado 14ers, summited the “Roof of Africa” (Kilimanjaro), tackled my share of 5th-class technical rock and plenty of exposed 3rd- and 4th-class scrambles. I snow climbed steep couloirs, slicing my arm open with my ice-axe in spring conditions, bleeding […]
Keeping the Courage to Leap into What’s Next
Reflections The tension between who I have to be at work and who I really am is just getting to be too much. It’s exhausting to be the high performer with the master’s degree and a quarter century of experience. I’m just not her anymore. In fact, I don’t want anything to do with her. […]
Just Get Composting
Reflections I grew up in a gardening family, but for years, work and lifestyle prevented my husband and me from having a garden. Once I weaseled my way into non-travel work positions, we dove headlong into gardening. Part of this journey was to start converting our kitchen waste into compost to amend our soil. We […]
I Hope Retirement Didn’t Slip Out of Your Hands
Reflection Over the years, I’ve worked with plenty of professionals making really, really good money. Certainly plenty of people earning a comfortable $150,000-$250,000 per year. But executives aside, I’ve worked alongside and am networked with folks who, as sale representatives or consultants, have had a few back-to-back years earning mid- high-six figures. I wouldn’t be […]
Early Retirement: The Ultimate Career Flex
Reflection My LinkedIn feed can be a bit depressing these days. As if the layoff announcements aren’t enough, I deal with another sad phenomenon: Folks my age “career flexing” about the same stuff they’ve been posting about since their 30s and 40s. Careers have seasons. That I have learned. The same things that fueled […]
Sleep Better with an Escape Plan
A few months ago, I was a bit on edge. I knew that I was mentally done with my career and my husband and I talked a lot and dreamed together about “what’s next?” Yet I found myself feeling frustrated, like I was frozen with the pause button on, unable to move forward but not […]