A young graduate told me she was feeling like a failure in her first job after college. Her job lacked formal training, leadership, and guidance. Although she was trying to work through it by asking various people for help and working overtime, she felt exhausted and unsuccessful.

I asked her what this experience taught her professionally and personally? Was she going to continue the cycle, hoping it would improve? Or, would she take her talent elsewhere? She didn’t have many…

A friend of a friend was telling me about hating her job —how everything and everyone related to it emotionally drained her. She was bored, unchallenged, and a few other adjectives that meant she was leaving, resigning and didn’t want to work there anymore. She said she spent every free and not so free moment looking for another job.

I asked, “Are you Painfully Employed (PE)? Do you wake up…

I spoke to a woman in her late 50’s who was humorously telling me about ending her 30-year marriage. Her husband had an affair and, after she confronted him, he asked her was she happily married prior to the discovery? She said, “Pretty much,” and he then confessed to having other affairs over the years; but since she was ‘pretty much’ happy, then why divorce?

She was stunned by his revelation…

When I converse with young college alums, we often discuss the life between their parent’s home and their own. Whether the transition is from their parent’s home or from college to the workplace, our talks about handling the angst in transitioning are engaging.

Most of them were told to go to college, major in something they like, and then get the job they would love. Some of them said they fell for it hook, line, and sinker without being…

A while ago, I met a childhood friend and after a few minutes of conversation, I realized…she needed to stay in my childhood. She was gossiping about people I didn’t remember and I felt like I was stuck in a high school, “mean girl” moment. When she finally said “let’s stay in touch” I dodged her statement like a superstar in a dodge-ball game.

After this encounter, I realized that some people…