My POV, when you’re no longer irreplaceable.
This is in law but one time when I was just a young’en parter said “if you don’t know who your supporter is [in the partner/mgt] meeting, you’re in trouble”. I’ve told my young son foster good relationships with your supervisors so you know where you stand. I do this all the time.
I left one firm once over 20 yrs ago and hit the recession unfortunately, new firm told me they were cutting my comp 50%!!! (Was sole breadwinner with two young kids and a mortgage, talk about pressure) I left a week later. (Wife says it was the best disruption ever because my career took off from there). So that’s one way to know
See, I take the opposite point of view: No one is irreplaceable -- ever.
Everyone, in every position, has their place, and their value. But, irreplaceable? No.
I've gone, over the course of my life, from a place where my career/work meant everything, and was, for better or worse, my life, to a time, now, where it is practically a distraction from, and an interruption of what I now consider the things I really want to do, and see as the most important. I am pretty much just biding my time, now, and going through the motions of work, just because it is, unfortunately, a NECESSARY distraction/interruption, financially speaking, as I try to secure a comfortable retirement sometime in the next few years.
With that change of perspective in mind, however, I would now say that what you do depends on where you are in life. That change of perspective -- brought on by several key life events that have occurred in mine over the past few years -- also has changed my emphasis on things that can't always necessarily be changed easily: family life, location, health issues. Such things really are the most important, and while people often pay lip service to them as such during younger years, they actually BECOME that, the longer life goes on.
What, and especially, with whom, do you want to spend your time, or give of yourself? Where, and into what do you want put your time, and your money? The lead pastor at my church always says that where people put those two things tells you a lot about their priorities, and I have always thought, "You know what? You're right." There's just no arguing it.
You love to follow and share in your daughter's career and life, I can tell. Can you do that the way you want from where you're at, and with the work/life balance you have now, and considering her desires (or not) for your presence/nearness, etc.?
Is there something else driving these thoughts? A particular work, personal or health issue? And what can be done regarding any such things if they are factors? What values, perhaps, have changed or evolved lately to make these considerations be top of mind right now? And, most of all, do you have the means and/or the courage to make any changes that may be required or desired? That's a biggie, one that most people don't ask, or even realize, until they've just "gone along" for years, without doing anything they might later wish they had.
But these are the kinds of things you need to be asking. The answers should help guide your next moves.
