The New Chapter

Life is a series of sharp turns. Perhaps my sharpest came nearly three years ago on December 15, 2021. I left a good job after riding the corporate roller coaster for 22 years. I left it for a life with no plans, no meetings, no alarms, and no performance management.

I was 58 – too young to truly retire and not too old to learn a few things about myself. Here are three:

I like what I did, but two decades of doing it inside a corporate infrastructure was plenty. It took a minute for me to be at peace with the decision. Then I read “Independence Day: What I learned About Retirement,” by Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times. He brilliantly told the stories of dozens of people: some who retired in their 50s, some who worked into their 90s, some who liked work but wanted more balance, and some who could never see themselves not working. The bottom line: there’s not a perfect time for everyone but everyone is wired differently. And retirement is more of a new beginning than an ending.

The people around me always made me better. Today I consult for a few clients – meaning I’m my own company’s CEO, business development director, strategist, writer, IT manager (yikes), and administrative assistant. I can’t thank enough the people who made life easier and more successful over my corporate career.

I’ve come to enjoy free-range communications! Every day is a little different and every week is a learning experience. It’s an opportunity to take on meaty issues while reserving time for other things in life that are important. Like playing pinball or chilling at one of my favorite eight coffeehouses.

I plan to write twice a week to keep myself sharp (I tell students that you become a good writer with a lot of practice, and you never age out of that). I won’t be overly preachy, but I will sometimes float a few perspectives about what’s going well, and not so well, in the communications space. There are plenty of stories to tell, and I hope you follow along.