Phil Rosen's Blog

Phil Rosen's Blog

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
What happens when life changes overnight?

What happens when life changes overnight?

There is rarely an easy way to move on from the familiar, and new chapters always bring their own uncertainty.

Phil Rosen's avatar
Phil Rosen
Apr 01, 2024
2

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
What happens when life changes overnight?
Share

My dad retired in August after 42 years with the same company. 

Larry Rosen ran a close-knit, highly efficient team in the California branch of the firm, and enjoyed the respect, autonomy, and authority that comes from being the most veteran presence in the business.

I could use one hand to count the number of sick days dad took in his career. At the same time, it would take far too long to add up the unspent vacation days he accrued.

In the weeks leading up to his last day, he told me he had no idea what that first Monday of retirement would look like. Being part of something for that long brings a special scope of responsibility and depth of relationships that are not easily replicated. 

What happens when everything changes overnight? Thirty Mondays later and I think dad's still trying to answer that question. He now carries institutional knowledge and encyclopedic know-how about a place he’s no longer tied to. 

If you do anything for that long, I imagine it’s hard to conceive of what life looks like without it. 

Phil Rosen and father Larry Rosen
Me and my dad on a beach in California

There is no meaningful comparison to make, but today is indeed my first Monday since 2021 that I’m not employed by Business Insider. Three years is nowhere close to four decades, though I do believe I have a slightly better grasp of what my dad was talking about in August. 

While I’m not retiring, I do feel a vague, unsettling feeling that my life is indeed radically different today than it was one Monday ago. Tuesday will be different, but here’s what I know for sure about today:

I won’t see my (former) colleagues.

I won’t sip the newsroom coffee.

I won’t join the team meeting I’ve participated in for three years.

I won’t introduce myself to anyone new using the name of a company I love. 

And yet — I'm excited I won’t be operating on someone else’s calendar. I don’t have deadlines other than the ones I invented. I did not sleep in today, but it was nice to know I had the option.

Just as my last day at Business Insider was bittersweet, my first Monday after is one of mixed feelings. I'm in the uncommon moment between chapters when I can reflect on where I've been and position myself for where I'm going.

There is no easy way to move on from what is familiar, and doing so means staring down the uncertainty of untrodden ground. Perhaps in this small way my dad and I are enjoying the same season of life.

Whether he intended to or not, my dad taught me how important and rare it is to be reliable, and what it means to show up everyday without complaining.

Those lessons have served me well in my brief career. I hope I can be as good an example to my future kids as my dad is for me.

Phil Rosen and his father Larry Rosen
Dad and I sometime around 1996.

Subscribe to Phil Rosen's Blog

Essays at the intersection of work, business, and culture from the desk of an award-winning journalist building a financial media startup.
2

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
What happens when life changes overnight?
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
The Best Life Advice You Haven't Heard: 27 lessons in 27 years
Practical, non-obvious lessons from reading a thousand books, traveling the world, and never having all the answers.
Aug 14, 2023 â€¢ 
Phil Rosen
3

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
The Best Life Advice You Haven't Heard: 27 lessons in 27 years
Why Gen Z feels so trapped by this economy
Young people did everything right but they can't afford anything and AI is taking jobs.
Jun 16 â€¢ 
Phil Rosen
10

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
Why Gen Z feels so trapped by this economy
7
The only book sold at Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting
A dispatch from Omaha and Warren Buffett's updated reading list.
May 2 â€¢ 
Phil Rosen
4

Share this post

Phil Rosen's Blog
Phil Rosen's Blog
The only book sold at Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting

Ready for more?

© 2025 Phil Rosen
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.