345.4K
REI am 40 and I am embarrassed to admit this.
1. I just lost my job in the tech industry after 11 years in a 3-minute phone call. Eleven years of showing up and pushing through burnout, gone in one conversation.
2. I trusted someone. It did not work out. One decision, and the stability I thought I had vanished.
3. I did not walk the traditional marriage-and-children path. Love never seemed to land the way I hoped. While others were building families, I buried myself in work.
4. I grew up in a broken single-parent home where money was tight. Relationship was bad. I remember what it felt like to not have enough.
5. I was not the standout student. I did not have a circle cheering me on. Much of my journey has been quiet, learning things the hard way, picking myself up, and starting again.
6. Losing my job at 40 broke me in ways I did not expect. I spent months in a dark space, questioning everything.
Now I am learning how to rebuild, how to believe in myself again, and how to define success on my own terms.
It took me a long time to post this and show this side of myself because I have felt judged for most of my life. And I am scared. More scared than I would like to admit. But I am choosing to show up anyway.
If you have ever felt behind, replaced, or quietly scared about your future, you are not alone.
Thank you for reading till here. ❤️
Follow along if you want to see what rebuilding at 40 truly looks like.
Not polished. Not perfect. Just real.
#rebuilding #growth #inspiration #embarrassedtoadmit
@rebuildingwithcherlyn
