I left the corporate world of telecommunications in the early spring of 2016.  When I walked out of those office doors that last time as an employee, the world outside held new and exciting promises; intriguing chapters and experiences glittering and shining in the bright sunlight of the world of “between jobs”.  And as I walked down those stairs that final day, I became excorporated; I became one that was no longer contained within, and united with, the existence of a corporate identity.

Truthfully, a part of me was relieved to be leaving; the years of loyally holding a management accountability to answer for coding and delivery standards not always at the highest of corporate levels, had taken a toll.  I’d valiantly fought battles on the company’s behalf at times when customers faced some of their darkest moments in production crises; high-pressure times when pent-up resentments were vented as burps of spontaneous frustration at the available company representative.

But there was also another, very sad side to me as I exited on that final day.  The people I’d met, befriended and walked united paths with in our parallel corporate journeys, were about to become a part of my excorporated experience.  Much of my corporate identity had been defined by the unified experiences shared with some very interesting and unique individuals and I knew that becoming excorporated would significantly change the dynamic of these relationships the minute I switched from being an in to an ex.

Yet interestingly, while experiencing the bitter-sweet taste of departure, a delicious dynamic birthed within as I took each final step down that metal staircase the last day.  I exhaled the corporate air I’d lived on for so many years, which had unknowingly become stale for me, and I began to breathe in the glorious essence of the unexpectedly courageous side to being excorporated.  A bold new journey of self-discovery, holding oodles of opportunity yet to be experienced, presented itself to me, with the only things to hold me back being my own fears and self-limiting beliefs.

In perfect honesty, this new journey of personal expansion, all shiny and sparkly at the outset, has been challenging as it’s yielded its own intriguingly contrasted nuances and perplexities, with some way scarier than others.  But each step along its path has offered prizes of delicious growth in areas I would never have discovered had I not accepted the challenge to embrace the world of self-employment, with the pre-requisite skills of self-trust and reliance mandated as qualifying criteria.

Perhaps I could not have acquired those awesome learned skills anywhere but within the corporate world, and just maybe the greatest lesson on this new journey will be how to hone them in the now becoming known excorporated experience.  So, while I would not for one second look to reverse my footsteps and go back up that metal staircase to be in-corporated again, I am truly grateful for all I learnt while part of a corporate identity, and I embrace every new lesson and challenge revealing itself to me now as the full extent of being excorporated unfolds.