Starting a new job after the death of a parent
Lessons on finding comfort in change and living with loss
With four days left to work and plans to start a new job a day later, I got the call that would irreversibly change my life. My mother had a massive brain aneurysm and was placed on life support. I dropped everything to fly 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to say my final goodbye to my advocate, my best friend, my mother. Two weeks later, I started my new job and tried to get on with life as best I could.
A year later, it would appear little has changed. I am once again ‘between jobs’ and facing the possibility of moving home again to find work. From immigration status, to employment security, to emotional well-being — I have had few certainties. When I wrote my book What I Know about Jumping, I could not have anticipated that life would continue to be unsettled two years later!
As I face another major crossroads, unlike last year, I feel unsteady on my feet without my mother. She was my anchor, instilling me with confidence and keeping me grounded in purpose.
But that’s how change works.
It can be seen and unseen!
Having come through the worst part of grief, I can now appreciate the vantage point that time has afforded me. From this tearfully won position, I can…
