Today is my birthday!
I am made fun of for broadening its celebration. My birthday becomes my “birthday weekend”, my “birthday week”, and even my “birthday month”. I don’t know why I do this. I just love my birthday.
Birthdays are wonderful days to reflect on your life: What have I accomplished? Who am I now?
I’d love to tell you about my “Marissa Mayer Moment”.
In July 2012, I was six months into a new job. My first as a director! I was commuting 2.5 hrs per day. Waking up nightly to care for a 1-year-old. I was working hard, but managing it all pretty well… I thought.
Then Yahoo! named Marissa Mayer its CEO. We were both 37 yrs old.
I looked up her background. Marissa graduated high school in 1993 in Wausau, Wisconsin. This is only 100 miles from where I grew up, in rural Ripon, Wisconsin.
So, in late 1993, we both took off to school…and now she was the CEO of Yahoo!. It took her only 15 years after college.
It was the first time something shocked me out of the daily corporate grind: What am I doing with my career? What am I working toward? Is this a mid-life crisis?
My wife laughs at me: “That was the first time?”.
It’s crazy to think that was 10 years ago. In those 10 years, I decided to jump off the corporate track. I have been able to start a couple of (small) businesses and lead a relatively stress-free life. I like it. It fits me.
I google Marissa now and again. I see pics of what looks like a pretty normal life. And maybe we’re not so different. I mean, apart from her fame and the $ Millions… ;-)
P.S. Marissa Mayer- please don’t misunderstand me. You’re awesome!
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