All reflections · November 8, 2026

If success requires your constant absence, read the terms again.

By Charles Botensten · iCharles

An opportunity may promise to improve your family's life while requiring you to disappear from it. That trade can be necessary for a season. The trouble begins when the season has no end and nobody is allowed to question the terms.

Make the cost visible alongside the benefit. Who will carry what you cannot? When will you reconsider? What would make the arrangement no longer worth it? A decision can be ambitious and still include a date when the people affected get to discuss it again.

If success requires your constant absence, read the terms again.

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