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1. Size doesn't matter.
I call this the rearview-mirror effect. You know that little sign that reads: "Objects may be closer than they appear"? Well, reinvention is bigger -- by magnitudes -- than it may appear. That's because what matters is not how momentous the change seems to the outside world, but how it feels to you. My career makeover -- from editor to writer -- barely nudged the needle on the reinvention Richter scale, but it was an earthquake in my life. It wasn't until I started talking to people who were making massive life changes -- a baby at 50, ditching a lucrative career as a cooking celebrity to become a personal trainer, losing 90 pounds and running a marathon -- that I realized my fears and worries were the same as theirs, and every bit as legitimate, because they were just as real to me.
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Amen to that warning.
Years ago, when I got out of school I wanted to pay off all of my debts as soon as possible. I continued to live like a student sending almost a full paycheck out of two to my student loan company. After two years I paid everything off.
I didn't get anything special from the loan company. I even had to call them to send me a statement in writing saying that all my debts had been retired. I got a few lame "congratulations" by email from some friends.
I guess part of me was expecting balloons to fly
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It was one of the biggest things in my life for two years. I was happy to see it come, and it is fine nobody else was excited, but still it would have been nice to feel like I shared the victory with someone.