But I also feel quite a lot of fear for you. And I guess there's a lot of fear there for you. You have as well about how you're going to do this. But I believe you can work it out. You know, I really feel for you in this. It must be a really hard time. I mean, just huge the amount of stuff you're going through. It could be that talking to a good therapist could also really help, you know, because, you know, if you find maybe someone through your network is good to talk to or you've heard about someone through friends or whatever who's good to talk to. I mean, that could really help as well, because what you're basically asking for is personal clarity. Right. And so that is independent of the actual topic. And there are techniques or things that help to get that that are independent of the actual subject of the that you want clarity about.
So a therapist, you know, maybe one session, you know, I think it could be something that helps, you know, I'm guessing you feel you don't really have any friends that really understand what you're going through. Right. I mean, sure, maybe you do. But no one who really gets you or really can provide basically what you're looking for there. And that's OK. So I think maybe a therapist could help assist.
And I'm sure it seems overwhelming. There's so much stuff you need to do. And, you know, so I guess you can just lean on your already great execution skills there by just chunking the problem, breaking it down, small steps, stepping through each piece at a time, even though it's not a business thing. It's your personal culmination of journey kind of plan that you need to get through. Right. You need to formulate and then execute that plan for yourself. So you close that chapter and feel satisfied and can move on.
And I'm sure doing all of that seems overwhelming. And it could be that, of course, naturally that, you know, you're maybe distracting yourself, focusing on business tasks to sort of avoid the enormity of this actual personal thing. But obviously, you know, not addressing the personal things you will not feel you got what you want. So obviously, it's it maybe seems sometimes like this is all about the business and things you need to do for that and financial. But there's probably, you know, it's just about the personal perspective that you need to get right in order to close that journey. So that is the side that you need to focus on in order to free yourself. I understand that.
And I think if you do that ((formulate your personal journey completion plan, addressing all the dark, light, and neutral you need to do to feel complete and move on ~~ the company's "work" may never be complete, but you can feel complete, and that's what matters)), and you also have some sort of ritual--some sort of like sign off final celebration!--where you cherish this stuff and you make the toast and you kind of have that going away party and you do all this stuff and you mark the moment, the culmination of these preparations where you've kind of crystallized all this stuff, this acceptance of the journey that you've actually been on, obviously, as opposed to the first three years and this three, three and a half years, whatever. And this expression of your appreciation and desire to leave things in a good place for the people who are important to you there and for the company. And if you kind of culminated in this kind of big moment, it's going away party, whatever. And then sort of on the other side of that, you have like a ritual for yourself to kind of start that new day, that new life.
I mean, apart from writing down like what things you want to do, bucket list kind of stuff and reconnecting with that, part of your life, you have obviously chosen to maybe, chosen to not invest as much in as you have put in this company. Apart from doing that kind of stuff and everything else I said, I don't know what more you can do. Clearly going through this is gonna be a rollercoaster of emotions that probably take a long time to process fully and you may avoid processing after some time, but it's not gonna be easy to face all of the stuff to go through that. But I think it could be as good as it could be and as comfortable as it could be if you follow your heart about this and align with what you really want.
And that will be empowering because you'll basically be saying goodbye to that earlier version. Not that there's anything wrong with that version, it's just that the way things played out, that didn't work out. And there's nothing wrong with that. Neither with those goals, nor with the fact that it didn't work out. Painful, yes, but nothing wrong, you know? Because it seems what you've done, success or not by the judgment of VCs or not, like you've done something really beautiful. So I just basically see the best path for you is the continuation of that natural desire that you have, a fulfillment of that. And that will be success, I think, as you look back on it and you will know that in your heart that that's success.
So hopefully that was helpful and illuminating for you. Best of luck to you. And thank you for sharing your story here. It was very illuminating and beautiful to kind of see what you've gone through.
Wow...I don't even have any words really. So I'll just say THANK YOU! I will need to read that a coupe more times. But my first question is who are you and how do you know all this and how can I contact you?
Haha, I don't have time to read OP's epic essay, but I love the mood. I think founders who have been through this, myself included, just want you to know you're not alone. Go kick some ass.
So a therapist, you know, maybe one session, you know, I think it could be something that helps, you know, I'm guessing you feel you don't really have any friends that really understand what you're going through. Right. I mean, sure, maybe you do. But no one who really gets you or really can provide basically what you're looking for there. And that's OK. So I think maybe a therapist could help assist.
And I'm sure it seems overwhelming. There's so much stuff you need to do. And, you know, so I guess you can just lean on your already great execution skills there by just chunking the problem, breaking it down, small steps, stepping through each piece at a time, even though it's not a business thing. It's your personal culmination of journey kind of plan that you need to get through. Right. You need to formulate and then execute that plan for yourself. So you close that chapter and feel satisfied and can move on.
And I'm sure doing all of that seems overwhelming. And it could be that, of course, naturally that, you know, you're maybe distracting yourself, focusing on business tasks to sort of avoid the enormity of this actual personal thing. But obviously, you know, not addressing the personal things you will not feel you got what you want. So obviously, it's it maybe seems sometimes like this is all about the business and things you need to do for that and financial. But there's probably, you know, it's just about the personal perspective that you need to get right in order to close that journey. So that is the side that you need to focus on in order to free yourself. I understand that.
... completed below! ...