The Last Walk - December 2025

The month my old career ended and the new one began.

So it’s finally here. The month my old career ends and the new one begins. Strangely this period is a strong parallel to what I learn in counselling training. The idea of how to have a good ending - two adults talking together, thinking about what went well, what didn’t and setting each other up to move on positively.  

I videoed my last walk to the office. It was slow and deliberate. Somebody actually cried. Others were distant. I had imagined that moment - handing over the computer, the badge - as the real ending. It was quicker and easier than I thought. There wasn’t time to sit with the sadness or fear that I was holding. 

Working in a global team, most of your colleagues are not physically around you. My boss was remote. It’s difficult to feel taken care of in a digital environment.

One person stood out. Not someone I knew well, but a colleague in the office. He messaged me the night before and asked if I would like to go for lunch on my last day. And I thought, yes, I really would. 

The lunch was the full stop, and I was so grateful for it. My colleague said, “Well, it’s important to do the right thing” That was the company I had grown up in. A small and thoughtful act I will never forget.

It was a relief to have it all behind you. In the last few days, you feel worthless at work. There’s a loneliness as relationships with those around you change. You are no longer part of the project - more and more on the outside looking in.

The period after lunch and the next day felt strange. I no longer had that big corporate comfort blanket to keep me safe.

It’s like coming out of the shade into the rain. Letting the drops hit your body. The cold rain releases the tensions that your body has been holding—a sense of purification. Everything washed off. Everything is ready to grow.

During this period, my creative work booms as I glimpse the future. I see places differently. I move through them more slowly, instead of gliding by. Images help me represent complex thoughts and feelings. This 13th-century Japanese quote: "The flowing river never stops, and the water never stays the same” (Kamo no Chōmei) inspires me. 

A new self-image is developing—one based on being free to express myself, to be authentic, and to show vulnerability. I’m discovering my voice at a time when I think more people need to use theirs.

As I stand in the rain, I see this is a moment of change, not the resolution of anything. The ending is just the beginning. I’m standing in the rain, and I’m not going back inside.