So…what do I do next?

At the end of December, I took the rest of 2025’s paid time off and then I went to New Orleans with my Mom. Worked for a few days but had to take a medical leave. Aside from that week in New Orleans, I’ve been at home with nothing to do.

During medical leave, I was either sleeping or doing paperwork. I lost my job about two weeks later, at which point sleeping wasn’t an option because I had to use that time doing more paperwork.

Finally, everything was complete last week.

I connected with a few recruiters in February: people that I had worked with before, or referrals from friends. They gave me some tips on my resume. But every time I opened that file to make changes, I’d hit this mental roadblock. I just couldn’t even start. Couldn’t even put my fingers to the keyboard. Froze.

I would say out loud, to the dog, “It doesn’t feel right.”

I’ve lived my life by “going with my gut.” Following that instinct hasn’t failed me yet.

My gut says that I need a break from the cubicle.

I need to do something less stressful. Have some fun. A job that doesn’t require building a strategy and holding the ownership of execution. A job with very clear performance objectives.

Retail.

My first job was at age 15 at an obnoxious teenage girl’s clothing store in Crestwood Mall: Rave. Some of my purchases included red pleather pants and a hot pink pantsuit that at the time, I thought was very professional.

As a St. Louisan, let’s pause for our moment of silence for the death of Crestwood Mall. May it rest in peace.

When I was 19, I was hired as an assistant manager at Famous Footwear in Quincy, IL. A few years later, I was relocated to Phoenix, AZ. I moved to The Children’s Place, where I was promoted a few times and tapped to open new stores in the area. Ended up at Tommy Hilfiger. When I moved back to St. Louis in 2014, I worked for DSW in Brentwood while I built my network here.

I loved retail. Of course, there are issues in any role. The worst thing: overnight shifts for inventory or restocking for the new season. But we had so much fun, and those inside jokes are still brought up in conversations today. When you’re in a cubicle, you don’t have stories like a male European tourist who doesn’t speak much English trying on underwear and walking out to the sales floor to ask us if we think it looks good. For the record: you can’t try on the underwear at Tommy Hilfiger. Try explaining that without an app like Google Translate.

A few weeks ago, I went to Dollar Tree. I had never been in a Dollar Tree before, but I was picking up school supplies to donate to The Little Bit Foundation in exchange for mulligans at their annual trivia night.

Dollar Tree was really nice! Name-brand stuff for $1.50! I made my Mom walk up and down every aisle, and I kept repeating, “This will be great when I run out of money!” To which she kept placating me: “Yes, Megan, it is very nice. Can we go now? You’re going to be late.”

When we were checking out, I saw the “now hiring” sign so I asked the cashier about it. She was an older woman, retired, who took the part-time job for some extra cash. She had been there for one year and said she loved it. She called over the store manager, who looks 15 years younger than me but I guess that was about the same age that I was when I was a store manager. I explained my situation and asked what he was looking for. We had a good conversation, and he said, “Apply on our corporate site and I’ll hire you immediately.”

So I’m going to apply for some part-time, retail jobs. Starting with Dollar Tree.

• I’ll meet people. Make new friends.

• Get out of the house. Get off the computer.

• Get some income. It may not pay all my bills, but it’s something.

Clear my head. And decide where I should go from here.