I'm Not Scared, You're Scared

Hello, and welcome to Not Invisible (original working title: No, I’m Not Dead Yet).

I’ve been told countless times that my superpower is reinvention, so I figured it was about time I started writing about it. Since, well, I’m a writer…I’m currently an unemployed one, but I declared myself a writer at age 5 (and have the diary to prove it), and no life circumstance will ever change that. My friend Matt tells me that the kids are on Beehiiv, so here we are.

Since you probably don’t know what Emotion Code is—and if you did would might think I’m crazy—let’s sail quickly through my aha! moment. In a nutshell: I went to a session right after I lost my job to see what emotions were stirring about. When we finished, this lovely complete stranger said to me, “You have reinvented yourself every 10 years starting at 16. You are 47. You’re a year late.”

She was right. When I looked back at the year, it was filled with signs that screamed, “RUN.”

For anyone less woo woo, here are some more earthly references to my restless spirit: 

• Right after I parted ways with my toxic job, I DMed an old journalism buddy of mine named Spencer to tell him I was leaving journalism—for real this time. His only response? An excited: “You love a good change! Constant evolution.”

• I went to the Jersey Shore with an amazing group of women, including one new friend named Karen. After a long, wine-fueled chat, she tells me, “I’m so glad we figured out my life!” I was utterly confused, but she laughed. “You’re not scared to start over, and now I’m not either. Write this all down.” So I did.

They say that constant evolution was once mostly a domain of scam artists—people who had to stay one step ahead of ever-changing laws and more recently, tech. But with today’s volatile job market, and the rarity of picking a trade and staying with it for life, we all have to be learn to be like scammers.

Since I’m a serial re-inventor, you would think I’d be ahead of the curve. Am I? How will I get through this first year? One step at a time, and lucky you—I’m inviting you to come along.

And for any of you who want to know what the heck I did to upturn my life every decade, a quick recap:

• At 16, my family moved me from a wonderful magnet school for the arts/academically challenging high school in sunny Orlando to…not that, in Albuquerque. I was not the most pleasant, flexible teenager and eventually learned to love the 505. (Sorry, Mom!)

• At 26, I decided that NYC magazine life was too harsh for me (I covered 9/11 while at New York magazine and then worked my little tail off at Us Weekly and In Touch) and moved—completely randomly, with no job or plan—to Austin.

• At 36, I left my dream job as editor in chief of Vegas magazine to move to NorCal to try to shift away from journalism. Again, with no job or plan. And I ended up back in journalism anyways.

• At 46, I should have followed my pattern. Instead, I finally started listening to my gut a year too late. I tried to quit and was going to magnanimously offer to work for three more months to ensure a smooth transition. HA! This is journalism we’re talking about. I was let go, effective immediately.

So what now? Let’s find out…plus some opinions on the media and working in general—and maybe some nostalgic anecdotes from my days in celeb gossip. (If you ask nicely.) I may drop in a travel story or two, since I’m unemployed and traveling a lot. But mostly, let’s talk workforce, battle of the sexes, cross-generational colleagues—you know, all of that good stuff.

I’m so glad you’re here.