I have started counting down the days to my retirement from corporate life. I will be looking back at a career of 40 years, spent mostly in pharma marketing.
Wasn’t it just yesterday when I was a graduate listening to the speech of Pres Cory Aquino? After 2 years of being a fledgling university instructor, there was the stint at the ad agency, then with a project of the DOH. Then finally landing in pharma marketing, with all the highs and lows of a career in marketing.
I have fared well, methinks. I would like to believe that I have created value, tangible and intangible in that time span. I have built a Pinoy brand from zero, benefiting millions of Filipinos at risk of developing nerve problems. I have contributed to many other brands’ successful campaigns. I have managed and supervised hundreds of people. I have taught and trained hundreds more. And I have made many decisions, good and bad. I have learned from all of them.
I wish I could mouth off life lessons spontaneously. But I can’t. I lack that ability to distill into verbalized learnings my experiences. So I won’t be writing any Tuesdays with CC anytime soon.
Though I have reached that point of financial stability, I still worry about how to sustain living (and lifestyle) after that last paycheck. One medical emergency can be debilitating to the savings. Real non-cash assets may not easily convert to cash when needed. Income from leases may not always be regular. The worrywart in me can paint so many dire scenarios. At one point, I wanted to pursue a doctorate degree. But that would be a drain on my savings.
Hence, total rest post-retirement may not be an option. I am entertaining a return to the academe, teaching and research with a side hustle of corporate training & development.
But definitely, I want a break from this corporate life. I’d like to wrestle back control of my time, of my life and be answerable to myself (largely).
So much has happened in my life that has left me exhausted but fulfilled. Yet so much more will happen, I can imagine. But I’ll stop imagining for now. Let me just end this by saying that eventually, “Corporate Closet” will totally disappear. No longer in the closet. No longer corporate.
