Day 173: Last Day On The Job

Saying goodbye to someone you’ve worked with for many years is weird. On one hand, you’re thrilled and elated for the new adventures they’re about to embark on. You’re excited for the experiences you know that are about to come. On the other hand, you’re saddened that you no longer will be able to forge those kinds of experiences together. You will no longer share common ground on a daily basis. You will no longer share a common relationship that is creating something together.

I could go on all day about jobs and work and making a living, but the fact is that for many people, the work environment is a major part of their lives. When someone you’ve spent many years with leaves it, there’s a void created.

Today, two such voids were created where I work. Both cases involved people I’ve known for many years. It was bittersweet watching them go. I also found myself a bit envious. Come Monday morning, they’ll be experiencing life with a freshness and vision that I won’t possess. I can’t help but wonder how that must feel. I imagine they’re a bit frightened or unsure about leaving the security of familiar surroundings for settings less natural to them. But I also imagine that their adrenaline will be flowing with just a little more pep and pace than mine.

More than anything, when someone I respect and like leaves the place where you work, it makes me wonder what’s next. What will the new arrangement look and feel like? I’ve always been a sentimental person who fondly looks back on the past, but the older I get, the less I find myself doing so in this realm. The fact is that I’ve learned that people come and go. Nothing stops that. It happened at the first job I had out of college, and it has happened everywhere I’ve been since. They leave for different reasons, some good and some bad, but they leave. The workplace is just a microcosm of life in general; it’s constantly changing and evolving according to the people who occupy the work space. New people come in and help the environment evolve. I’ve found that the less I lament about “how things used to be” the less time I spend living in the past and the more time I spend looking at the possibilities and opportunities to come.

Working in the newspaper and magazine and print business in general is extremely conducive for consistent turnover. People move up the ladder. People move sideways. People move to the East Coast or West. People go out on their own and become freelancers. People leave the arena completely for something entirely new. But people go. Sometimes, it stings, but overall it’s positive. Life demands it to be.