That’s probably for the best, there was a pattern forming.
I’ve spent most of my entire life knowing that “it” was over, for various changing values of “it” over the years.
I used to be a general dogsbody, crucial to the running of the company, but as we grew in scale and I couldn’t do them all myself anymore, each of those jobs had to be farmed out to new employees, one by one. Then one day I realised I only had one job left, and I had just got wind that they were hiring somebody to do that one too.
After so many years of no raises while others got promoted ahead of me, and generally being overlooked and forgotten, despite at one early point being one of the most important team members, I knew it was time to go. I loved that job, I did it well, and I helped make the company what it was, but they didn’t seem to want me there anymore.
My brother keeps the “Sacrifice” poster (framed) in his office.
Wow, that looks awful. I feel like in the UK a good employment lawyer could win you a lot of money for what we call “constructive dismissal” - yes I know employment law in the US is generally more weighted towards the employer. Anyway, good for you for getting out and getting on with your life.
Me, I’m pretty oblivious to this sort of thing - luckily I have always fallen on my feet so far. And I haven’t suffered from bad bosses or bad partners.
When I’ve realized I do not care about the outcome.
When I’ve realized any effort made on my behalf will not garner any self-satisfaction or results that will benefit me.
When I’ve realized I was allowing external negative dynamics change my way of thinking or feeling.
I’m still learning how to not be a people pleaser and how to protect myself above all others. It’s not been easy, and it’s often been lonely.
My career? I knew it was over well before it was over - it was a gradual fading away. Being a self-employed consultant in the medicines licensing business (specialising in the dosage form development/manufacturing side) I had traded for years on the fact that I had done the heavy lifting in labs and factories and knew the technology inside out - to the extent that I frequently explained to assessors in government agencies how things worked. Politely, mind.
Eventually there was a coming together of things. Financially, I was in a position to retire. Mrs Trep was in the process of retiring. Work just wasn’t any fun any more - and I had a strong sense of sand running through the hourglass. My main client decided they wanted to use fewer external consultants, so my workload started reducing (great!). And I had an increasing sense of redundancy - all of the technologies that I was so knowledgeable about were starting to become obsolete and were being replaced with new stuff - which I was OK with, but my USP was withering away. Time to go.
It was then a very comfortable process to drift along to the end of the year and slip away. It’s a good way to do it.
j