Look, Ponder but Walk Away
My work is in trouble and people are leaving the company. It might survive, it might not. Tis impossible to know in this economy. Everybody is looking around and putting out feelers, including me. Such an odd time.
The other engineer in my immediate team has interviewed with a competitor near his original hometown. It looks like he'll be leaving in the near future. Both of my technicians have interviewed for better paying jobs closer to home. I expect they'll be gone in a month. My workspace will change completely soon.
I've been talking to a few companies as well. One company interviewed me and wanted me to come to work in Florida. I thought about it long and hard, discussing the move at length with my wife. We decided against it. I belong here, I don't want to move after living in this house for 34 years, I don't want to sow chaos in my grandson's life and I'm old. Also, selling my house for a loss and losing my equity doesn't make sense. Then there's this depressed economy. No one knows what's going to happen in the future. Moving 1000 miles away to a place you don't know, nor know anyone, might be too risky when you have a family counting on you.
An equipment vendor talked with me about joining their company if mine fails. The work is mostly local and I could work out of my home, doing field service work for their regional customers. It involves more travel than I like and is not my strongest suite, but I could make it work in a pinch.
All of this talk has made it clear to me that best choices are a function of the season of a man's life. If I was younger and interested in a career, I might have jumped at the opportunity to move to Florida. When you're young, you have time to recover if things go wrong. But as you get older you become far more conservative. This economy is so wretched and my trust level is so bad that I am extremely risk averse. My younger associates aren't as jaded and feel they can tolerate more risk.
As I did stuff around the house last weekend and pondered the job offer, I noticed all the work I'd poured into my home of 34 years. I noticed how everything was just the way I planned and made it. At 60 I could never make a new home mine, I just don't have the time or energy. As I tended the garden, I mourned that I would never eat the vegetables growing in the garden if I moved. And it mattered!
My grandfather worked 2444 weeks and father worked 1836 weeks at one company then retired. Neither pondered throwing their life into chaos and moving 1000 miles at 60 years old. I think they both wanted to fade into retirement where they felt secure and comfortable. It's normal for most people.
I want to maintain as much normalcy as possible in the remaining 291 weeks that I have to work. At 60 I don't want the same sense of adventure that I sought from age 18 to 36. And at age 60 I have far more responsibilities to family than I did as a young man, as well as far less possibilities. Wisdom is assessing and balancing life to meet reality.
It's kinda sad when you realize the limits of your life. But it feels natural. It's sorta like seeing a beautiful young woman and knowing that you could expertly operate her yet because of the age differential it would be a disappointment for both of you. So you look, ponder but walk away.
The other engineer in my immediate team has interviewed with a competitor near his original hometown. It looks like he'll be leaving in the near future. Both of my technicians have interviewed for better paying jobs closer to home. I expect they'll be gone in a month. My workspace will change completely soon.
I've been talking to a few companies as well. One company interviewed me and wanted me to come to work in Florida. I thought about it long and hard, discussing the move at length with my wife. We decided against it. I belong here, I don't want to move after living in this house for 34 years, I don't want to sow chaos in my grandson's life and I'm old. Also, selling my house for a loss and losing my equity doesn't make sense. Then there's this depressed economy. No one knows what's going to happen in the future. Moving 1000 miles away to a place you don't know, nor know anyone, might be too risky when you have a family counting on you.
An equipment vendor talked with me about joining their company if mine fails. The work is mostly local and I could work out of my home, doing field service work for their regional customers. It involves more travel than I like and is not my strongest suite, but I could make it work in a pinch.
All of this talk has made it clear to me that best choices are a function of the season of a man's life. If I was younger and interested in a career, I might have jumped at the opportunity to move to Florida. When you're young, you have time to recover if things go wrong. But as you get older you become far more conservative. This economy is so wretched and my trust level is so bad that I am extremely risk averse. My younger associates aren't as jaded and feel they can tolerate more risk.
As I did stuff around the house last weekend and pondered the job offer, I noticed all the work I'd poured into my home of 34 years. I noticed how everything was just the way I planned and made it. At 60 I could never make a new home mine, I just don't have the time or energy. As I tended the garden, I mourned that I would never eat the vegetables growing in the garden if I moved. And it mattered!
My grandfather worked 2444 weeks and father worked 1836 weeks at one company then retired. Neither pondered throwing their life into chaos and moving 1000 miles at 60 years old. I think they both wanted to fade into retirement where they felt secure and comfortable. It's normal for most people.
I want to maintain as much normalcy as possible in the remaining 291 weeks that I have to work. At 60 I don't want the same sense of adventure that I sought from age 18 to 36. And at age 60 I have far more responsibilities to family than I did as a young man, as well as far less possibilities. Wisdom is assessing and balancing life to meet reality.
It's kinda sad when you realize the limits of your life. But it feels natural. It's sorta like seeing a beautiful young woman and knowing that you could expertly operate her yet because of the age differential it would be a disappointment for both of you. So you look, ponder but walk away.
posted by lugh lampfhota at 9:13 AM
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