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 […]
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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 […]
Stepping Forward into Homesteading
Reflection Sitting on a dream I grew up in a gardening family. I loved summers, helping with weeding the garden and gathering the bounty of tomatoes, beans, peppers, sunflower seeds and more. My husband and I dreamed for years of having our own garden, but our busy corporate careers and my business travel schedule made […]
The Energizing Effects of Corporate Doomsday
Reflections It’s a tough job market! It’s the spring of 2025 and layoff announcements are everywhere, including my department in my Fortune 200 employer. We’ve all seen the org charts updates, and a few things are clear: 1. there are fewer roles in the new organization than there are people and 2. there are roles […]
Celebrating new waypoints after 50
Reflections When I scroll through LinkedIn, I notice a lot of my peers are still fixated on the same goals they’ve had for a few decades: Getting the keynote slot at an industry event, reaching airline status for coveted upgrades, earning that big-title promotion. Many are still marketing themselves hard as industry thought leaders and […]