What Unemployment Taught Me About Myself

I worked hard.

I left academia for industry.

And for a while…I was on top of the world.

Intel was my dream job…working for a company that I had grown up watching commercials about. I put in the hours. I learned the systems. I ran down the deadlines.

Then one day, my manager walked me out into the parking lot, shook my hand, took my badge, and went back inside as my former coworkers looked on from the windows.

Just like that.

It was the bottom line. That and a slew of ill-considered sacrifices I’d made at the expense of my professional reputation. It wasn’t personal…

But it felt deeply personal.

I was stunned…not just because of my sudden, unceremonious exit, but because of the deeper truth it revealed:

That job had become my identity, my professional compass, my raison d’etre.

Without it, I was back to square one.

That was the most painful moment of my life up to that point…but necessary.

It made me ask the question I’d only flirted with for years:

Beyond the roles I’d played throughout my life, who was I, really?

• Not just the jobs.

• Not just the skill sets.

• Not just a young professional.

That layoff was the beginning of something unexpected; a slow, at times awkward, brutally honest journey back to my original self.

That’s what this project is about at its core.

It’s not about reinventing yourself or redefining yourself.

It’s about remembering who you are…that and building something that internalizes that.

Next, I’ll share how I overcame the belief that it was too late to start anything new at the age of 40.

Because that voice is subtle and sneaky…and it shows up at the strangest moments.

P. S.

This is the second email I’m sending to new subscribers to drive home the fact that your identity isn’t meant to be tethered to external labels. That’s a recipe for disaster.