1 Year Anniversary

How strange it is to think that last March, my team and I were training and teambuilding, playing games at Dave & Busters and hugging each other goodbye. Shortly after, the team shrank, and those would be the last people outside my family that I hug with any sense of safety for going on a year now.

Work features so prominently in our lives that stopping one job can feel like letting go of a trapeze and hoping the universe catches you. In this case, like so many others, I was not even aware I'd be soaring (or freefalling) before I needed to find my next handhold. Nearly every job I've had has ended with contract completion or migration across hundreds ~ thousands of miles, so this really was something novel for me. Not to mention, you know, a pandemic. Yet perhaps nothing as drastic as this could have produced the confluence of advantages that helped me during that unbound flight. So many were feeling the need for contact, the shift in learning and exchange towards an online format, the availability and increased visibility of resources accessible to those who could make the time, for which I had an abundance, and the generosity of friends and strangers who shared so much wisdom and support. It was an extraordinary time to consider the subject of work with some of the most passionate and creative communities. My grandmother lived 100 years ago and could remember famines that had people eating shoe leather in desperation. Compared to that, almost anything seems endurable. Still, something that can take up so much of our energy should be better than eating shoe leather, and I can't express the gratitude I have that I could depart from one fantastic team that fights blindness to join another amazing team that brings insights to healthcare. I'm incredibly lucky to work with extraordinarily professional, generous, humble, intelligent, and kind individuals every day. For those that enrich my life, you have my sincerest thanks. For those that are still between your next catch, I wish you the best of luck, and please feel free to reach out to me.