Dear Invisible Friends, I made a tombstone out of clay as a decoration for my desk… “Morbid,” remarked my friend. “Bad Omen, ” whispered my mom. “Inspirational,” I murmured to myself. Here is why: A powerful reminder to use my time wisely. Contrary to what I have absorbed growing up, I understand that time and health,...

Dear Invisible Friends, Today I am reflecting on my 4,5 months life sabbatical brought to life by the “dream turned nightmare” position. For clarity, I decided to organize my thoughts around 3 themes: recovery, well-being, and passions. This installment covers the transition from a full-time job to almost complete unemployment. As you might recall, a...

Dear Invisible Friends, A few days ago, I finally severed the invisible cord with my former employment by updating my work history on LinkedIn. To make the moment memorable, I also wrote a short post describing why I did it and what I would be up to next. In the message, I invited people to...

Dear Invisible Friends, I have finished 3 pages of the site! They are still rough but it should do for now. Today, I want to share what I wrote for “My Story” in case you missed the page. I have procrastinating writing this final piece because I had to list all the “bad” things that...

Dear 2021 Irina! I wish I could see your widened in surprise eyes when you receive this message in a “digital bottle”. Last year, in 2030 (yes, it is not a typo), we discovered a way to communicate with the past. Imagine the agiotage around this discovery! Unfortunately, we, civilians, can only tap into this...

Dear Invisible Friends, I will start with a question: “What’s wrong with me?” I know I am supposed to be on vacation; however, I find myself working almost as much as I do during regular days. And I am working, not working on the blog nor other passion projects. I didn’t even have time to...

Dear Invisible Friends,  I have 3 insights I’d like to share with you.  I am finally out of my full-time job. My contract ends on May 31, and I am currently on a 2.5 weeks vacation, making it a nice transition to the life sabbatical. You might be wondering how I am feeling? The answer...

Dear Invisible Friends, This is how I feel about my work today. I’d rather be my cat than checking my inbox or scheduling one more meeting. Looking at my cat, I am seriously considering altering my DNA to acquire cat-life genes. Another option is to go on a quest for a magic potion that allows...

Dear Invisible Friends,  Overwhelmed and paralyzed are two words to describe my feelings towards this blog. Last night I spent hours trying to unsuccessfully insert “Follow the blog” and “Share the post” buttons on the WordPress site. I poked around, clicked all over the place – nothing. Unlike myself, I even checked the developer website...