Chronicles from the disestablished
For more years than I care to remember I happily reported to a corporate office with my highly polished shoes, freshly pressed shirt and a dark suit. My weapon of choice – a black Waterman ink pen tucked away like a stiletto, and holding an array of electronic handcuffs in the guise of phones and laptops. I told myself that I added real value to the lives of many. Until one day when I was summonsed to a meeting in front of a screen where I learned from someone 764 kilometres away that a Corporate reshuffle had determined the value I added was no longer valuable. The term was ‘disestablished’! In a few short weeks my role would be no more. At first I felt that the rug under my well-grounded feet had been wrenched away by horned corporate demons intent on slashing back corporate costs. My entire life, with its comfortable routine, sameness and safety had just been ripped apart with a swipe of the knife.
Then the realisation of possible freedom hit me and I asked: What part of sitting through endless meetings, navigating oceans of corporate politics, and regurgitating corporate mantras and objectives like a circus sword swallower was I really passionate about? Well, I actually did enjoy helping people and I was quite good at doing that. I did enjoy the daily scone from Mrs Hucks – heated and buttered of course. I loved cooking scrambled eggs for my team once in a while and spinning a yarn or two over the coffee table. But it would have been a stretch to call that ‘passion’, as fond as I was of my team, Mrs Hucks scones and other people’s problems. Over the years I had unwittingly created a selfimposed prison built on the myth of what success looked like; corporate loyalty, a good income and retirement plan, the need to provide and the ancient perception of ‘career for life. That, and a general lack of courage to move an inch outside the prison walls kept me a fairly compliant prisoner. And so I stepped outside the confines of my prison and determined to take a ‘career break’. An opportunity to reinvent and rediscover myself and my passions, to learn new skills and fine-tune existing ones. A chance to be courageous and take responsibility for myself! It’s not without its moments of anxiety though – moments when you ask yourself what have I done? Breaking down wellestablished routines and realising that the only tune you dance to now is your own can be challenging. You certainly become very receptive to books such as ‘The Secret’ and trust that the ‘Universe’ will provide.
Everything happens for a reason. The trick is to recognise opportunities and be ready to take advantage of them. That, and to recognise the only prison walls that exist, unless you are actually incarcerated, are those created by your own powerful mind. Life is a wonderful journey and when actual ‘disestablishment’ finally comes, it is improbable you will pass this way again – carpe diem.