Five Years Ago

Five years ago, I was in a lab, surrounded by phones and telephone switching equipment, isolated from the rest of the workplace by locked doors that required special security to pass through.  It was a place littered with old test cases and outdated manuals and post-it notes with passwords and logins.  Only the hum of…

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Change Is Hard

A friend sent me recent article from the Washington Post on change, based on a journal paper from the American Academy of Family Physicians.  The "Stages of Change" model describes five stages that people go through before making a successful change in behavior: Precontemplation–no desire to change Contemplation–ambivalent about change Preparation–experiment with small changes Action–purposeful…

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Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago, I was working as an engineer, with two children under the age of 4.  My husband was working as a teaching golf pro at a course 50 miles away. He worked weekends and on his days off during the week, he took care of our two young sons. From April to October,…

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Changing Trajectory

Most people think about the future at the beginning of a new year. What I’ve been thinking about is the past–and how different my life is now, from 5 years ago, from 10 years ago, from 15 years ago.  I often say that I could not have imagined five years ago the life I am…

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