My dad was a man of silence. After Mom died, he became a ghost in his own house. He didn’t cry; he just stopped talking. The only thing he did consistently was drive. Every Sunday, he’d get in his old sedan and disappear for four hours. He passed away last month. While clearing out his car, I turned on the old, suction-cupped GPS. There was only one "Recent Destination" saved: *1422 Sycamore Lane.* It wasn't Mom’s grave. It wasn't his childhood home. I’d never heard the address in my life. Driven by a mix of grief and curiosity, I followed the route. It took me two towns over to a small, nondescript park. I sat in my car for a while, wondering if he just liked the trees. Then, I saw an elderly woman walk to a specific bench near a duck pond. She sat down, opened a thermos, and set two cups out. She waited. She kept looking at the parking lot, her face falling a little further every time a car turned around and left. I got out. As I approached, she looked at me, and h...
A month ago I got fired from an executive leadership position. And honestly, it may have been the healthiest thing that’s happened to me in years. At the time, naturally, I thought my life was over. Because that’s what we do. We catastrophize professionally. You spend enough time answering urgent calls on your phone and responding to emails at 11:14 PM and eventually your brain convinces you that if you stop moving for even a moment, civilization collapses. Meanwhile civilization continues completely unaffected while you stand in your kitchen eating shredded cheese directly out of the bag at midnight. Executive leadership is an amazing scam when you think about it. People give you a title, endless responsibility, and access to meetings that should have been emails, and in return your body slowly converts itself into acid reflux. I had headaches constantly. I slept terribly. My eye twitched for like eight consecutive months. Every phone notification felt like death from a thousand cuts...