CTL-IX-0055
“I retired and without the job I don't know who I am anymore.”
The title carried your sense of self, and when it ended the ground went with it. But you were never only the role - that was one part you played for a season, now closed. The bound to trust is that the self underneath the title remains, and a new chapter is yours to author.
Your Practice
- Name who you are apart from the job: the values, the relationships, the man.
- Accept that the role was a part you played, not the whole of you.
- Choose one new thing to build or serve in this chapter. Author it on purpose.
- When the lostness hits, return to what remains, not only what ended.
The Architects
“Remember that thou art an actor in a play, of such a kind as the teacher (author) may choose; if short, of a short one; if long, of a long one.”
— Epictetus, Enchiridion, ch. XVII (George Long translation)