I am not my job.

I have been continuously employed since the age of 15 when I applied for my first job as a waitress at JB Big Boy. Now as we start emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and in the sixth decade of life, I’ve left a job where I sacrificed more than I care to admit. I did so to save people’s livelihoods, protect their access to health care, and to be true to the organization’s mission and purpose that expresses concepts such as “joy” and “everyone.” We were going to get through this global nightmare together and no one was going to die on my watch. I put my own family, health, and happiness to the periphery. Afterall, isn’t that what compassionate leaders do? Leaders like me live in the shadow of the Ernest Shackleton model for leading through a crisis. You’re not done until everyone returns home alive.

As people learned that after exercising Shackleton-like ethics that I was no longer at my high-profile job, I began to receive condolences, emails, and expressions of concern. There was an expectation that I was devastated. A victim. Ashamed. And beaten. They could not reconcile that on this day, as I looked behind me and ahead, I never felt more alive. Most could not comprehend the ambiguity of not knowing my next career step or how a break in service would factor into what has been a spectacular ascending career path. I received well-meaning sentiments couched with “for the sake of your career” or “protect your reputation” and “don’t let the bastards get you down.” There was real confusion when they found me gleeful, thrilled to be Zoom-free and still. Perhaps that is what happens when you know that you are not your job, when you know what you believe in, and when you know that human-centered principles will always outpace financial ones.

So with that preamble, I pulled my first prompt of 150 “Best Self” Edison cards. This inventive mind exercise was gifted to me by a co-worker prior to COVID to help stimulate team creativity. Now, you are my team.

Today’s Best Self Edison Card: Generate 10 ways to solve a professional problem you’re currently facing.

Professional Problem: The assumption that you are a victim when you leave a job without another job in the pipeline.

1. Tell the truth. There is a reason they say that the truth will set you free. Honesty is always a frontrunner and will never be an also-ran.

2. Tap into your hopes and dreams. No matter how long they have been tamped down, they’re still there waiting for you.

3. Express your mission, your values. I have a mission mantra for my life, not my job. It’s served me well for every hard decision I’ve ever had to make.

4. Don’t hide. No matter how appealing it is to just disappear, make time to be present with yourself and the people who you enjoy being with.

5. Answer every email and well-wisher. Even if the check-in is misguided, use the opportunity to lead with your values, your excitement and gently remind those that may need it that you are not your job.

6. Lead with hope and optimism. As much as people like drama there is nothing more contagious than hope.

7. Don’t take sides. Positional politics, ethics, and fact spinning are so yesterday. After living through a pandemic, do people really care about who did what to who? Let’s get on and live our lives.

8. Lean into your accomplishments. Big or small they are worth celebrating. I’m planning a series of “whatever” events – events that celebrate whatever comes next. There’s joy in not knowing.

9. Rise above controversy. For me, that means donning the Maya Angelou tee shirt “But still, like dust, I’ll rise” and reading Stephen Dunn’s poem “Loves.”

10. Be human. Everyday help another human being, It doesn’t need to be big sweeping gestures. Small yet deliberate decisions add up, like paying for someone’s groceries when they forgot their wallet at home or offering to hold a door or just looking into someone’s eyes and letting them know that you see them.

So that's my 10 ideas in 10 minutes. Eager to hear yours.