A Difficult Day

Monday has never been my favorite day of the week — and this one, January 27, in particular, feels especially heavy.

The email arrived, and though I can’t say I was surprised, the disappointment still hit hard.

I was informed that my term will officially end on March 31, 2026, with no renewal beyond that date.

With all the cuts happening across the government, I somehow sensed this was coming. But seeing it land in my inbox still made me feel sad and lost.

It’s hard to face the reality that, for the first time in five years, I don’t have something lined up at the end of my term.

What makes it harder to swallow are the promises — verbal reassurances during the interview, and even after I started — that an indeterminate position for me was being created and was already in the works. Those words once carried hope. Now, they just echo with emptiness.

Today, I feel numb — caught between sadness and disappointment.

But perhaps this is also the moment to pause, breathe, and think about what comes next.

Maybe every ending is simply a quiet invitation to begin again.

For now, I’ll take one small step at a time — trusting that even when doors close, the light finds another way in.