It strikes me that this is something we’re not taught. For retirements in our professional lives, there isn’t a template to teach us the best way to say goodbye to the path we’ve been on, nor how to handle the grief of those around us who may have a tough time with the news. If we’re diagnosed with a life-limiting illness that grants us some time for goodbyes, there is certainly no Cole’s notes on the best way to approach bidding adieu to our relationships.
This all said, I recently saw something on LinkedIn which struck me profoundly and could help provide a cheat sheet of sorts: a professional goodbye for someone who was dying.
Perhaps you saw it too?
In the post the writer indicates they are dying of a stage four cancer. They give a brief summary of their journey, contemplate their successes and failures, impart some knowledge, give thanks for what they learned from their professional contacts, and provide a sense of closure to those who they’ve been linked with. And they provided a timeline of when they would close their account.
It was a beautiful post and extremely well done - clear, impassioned, and thoughtful. I’ve saved a screen shot to my phone in hopes that it can be a template for me to follow some day. I think about it often: what would I say to my peers and contacts in this same situation?
Today, I’m grateful that individual chose to ‘teach us how to say goodbye’. They will not see this post, but I hope they know their goodbye has inspired and moved individuals they never even met.
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