The late bloomer

I was fired for the first time in my life on the day I turned 60, and it was perhaps the best birthday gift I never wished for.

It wasn't a complete surprise; these things rarely are. I had been preparing for this day for quite some time. However, I still needed to feel more ready to take the step and declare myself untethered from a corporate entity and a professional identity I had carefully cultivated for so long.?

So, when my supervisor started what was supposed to be a routine check-in call with those terrible words, "I'm sorry to say…" I felt a little bit of shock and a great deal of relief. She didn't expect my reaction to be so positive, and I almost had to comfort her for going through that unpleasant task. What happened was that I took the unfortunate news as a sign from the universe (if you know me a little, you probably know that I don't really believe in these things except as allegories) that the time had come for me to let go of the false sense of security that a formal job offers and dive headfirst into a new phase of my professional life. Thank you for the gift, Li. I've been feeling like a late bloomer ever since.?

I recently heard of the concept of late bloomers on National Public Radio (NPR, for short), and I immediately recognized myself in that description. If you want to learn about late bloomers, listen to the podcast. In short, late bloomers are people who make a career change or start pursuing their dreams late in life instead of starting early, as we expect most youth to do. In my case, what I decided to do with this unexpected gift is to start working as an independent marketing consultant for the animal health and nutrition industry, a field I've dedicated for the better part of 37+ years of my life.?

One of the main reasons I took this path is that over almost four decades, I met and worked with many fine people in the industry, literally from all over the world. Some were my work colleagues; others were customers or competitors. I learned a lot from every one of them, and together, we've done some excellent work. Now, I hope to collaborate with them again, this time as their trusted vendor and ally rather than as a work colleague. In other words, the next time we work together, it will be by our mutual choice rather than something arranged by a company that just happened to hire us.?

I have no idea whether I will succeed on this new path, but that's not the point. What matters is that I feel confident, excited, terrified, and hopeful all at once. In other words, I feel alive and happy. Even before I formally launch my new consulting business (coming soon), some people have already reached out and assured me they will call when an opportunity presents itself. Before making this decision (or, more accurately, before my employer decided for me), I would wake up in the morning and ask myself where I would find the stamina to keep working until reaching my retirement age. Now, I feel full of energy and plan to build a business that will last for at least twenty years. You see, I'm just blooming now.?