I’ve been suffering from migraines for over 30 years. I’m much better now but at one point in my life, in my mid-thirties, I reached a peak of 19 days per month.
Most people know that judo, like many corporations, has a well-defined system of ranks. While companies use titles like “Associate”, “Director” or “Vice-President”, judo uses a system of belts: White to brown for the Mudansha and black for the Yudansha.
If you took a look at my LinkedIn profile, you would notice, in 2009, a 7-month gap in my employment history. That’s because on this very week exactly 8 years ago, I lost my job as an executive of a major financial institution, a job I had been extremely proud of and that in many ways, defined how I thought of myself.
As I mentioned in a previous post titled “Dad, What Degree Should I Get?”, I have two daughters in university and a son wrapping up his senior year of high school. My children went through their teens in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, when the “good times” – if there ever was such a thing for most people – screeched to a halt and a difficult period set in for so many in this country and elsewhere.
The humor of the title will not have escaped anyone who is parent to a teenager or a young adult. I have two daughters in university and a son who is grappling as I write these lines with program choices for next year, but none of them have ever actually sought my advice on the matter.
