- The Daily GOOD
- Posts
- Waking from the 'dream job' to a better reality
Waking from the 'dream job' to a better reality
Losing the dream job could be for the best, an expert's tip on enduring insufferable people, and what the groundhogs think of their special day.
Greg Sullivan
January 29, 2026 • Est. Reading Time: 10 minutes
“I forgot what we were celebrating. Because we were always celebrating something, a new job, a new poem, a new love, a new dream.”
― Audre Lorde, Zami
In this issue...
Work and Money
People who have been there say the loss changed everything.
It’s a sadly common moment. You show up at your desk, put down your coffee, open the calendar, and see the meeting invite with your boss and someone from HR. An hour later, you’re walking out with your knick-knacks in a cardboard box.
“The time between roles works best when it’s treated as a rebuild, not a scramble.”
The thing about dreams, though, is that waking from them is the first thing you do when a new day dawns. In this story by Erik Barnes, people who have lost their own dream jobs share what helped them survive the shock, what they stopped believing about themselves, and what surprised them afterward. Career experts offer insight into why this kind of loss cuts so deeply and what tends to matter most in the weeks that follow.
An image like this evokes Narnia vibes, but this frozen trail is in Tonka Bay, Minnesota, where GOOD reader Georgia Ehrreich goes to escape the noise and reconnect with nature.
Do you have a GOOD picture to share?
Send us your best images, and we may feature them as the image of the day. Be sure to tell us a bit about your pic.
Health
No meditation cushion required. Just bark. Thick bark.
You might think that, when psychologist Kimberly Moffit tells you to make like a tree when you find yourself stuck in a conversation with an insufferable person, that she means you should get up and leave.
It’s not quite that.
As Erik Barnes explains in this story, Moffit’s advice is to visualize yourself as a calm, unshakable tree. The other person? A tiny gremlin trying to light you on fire with little angry sparks. Your job: let those sparks bounce off your bark and fizzle out.
Other therapists backed her up with their own versions of the same idea. Therapist John Sovec notes that when someone tries to push your buttons, “it is often a game for the other person to see if they can draw you into their reality.”
The common theme is simple. Stay regulated. Don’t take the bait. You don’t have to attend every emotional fight you’re invited to.
If nothing else, the image of a rage-gremlin desperately trying to set a tree on fire might give you a chuckle, and maybe that’s what’ll see you through.
When someone’s being insufferable, what's your move?Sometimes you can't avoid 'that' guy or gal. |
And what did we learn?
Yesterday, we shared the startling science behind “frost quakes,” and it made me wonder, which natural phenomenon are GOOD readers most adjusted to? As a Californian, I usually don’t even notice an earthquake, but it’s the blizzards that most people have adjusted to.
Earthquakes - Live with them long enough and you barely look up. (21.4%)
Hurricanes - Guess I need to take another street to work today. (11.2%)
Blizzards - I'll take too much snow once in a while over no snow ever. (41.8%)
Cicada swarms - The trees start screaming and you’re like, yep, it’s summer. (18.4%)
Reader Linda J Miller wrote in tornadoes, “If you live in Kansas long enough, you just look out the window instead of going to the basement.” No thanks, Linda. That’s how you end up in Oz!
Culture
And all the humans standing around definitely aren’t helping.
We’ve wrapped a playful tradition around these critters popping up their heads at this time of year, crediting or blaming them for winter’s whims. But, as Stam Zervanos reports, groundhogs have been popping up from their burrows in early February, long before February had a name.
Why? Well, while we call it Groundhog Day, they might call it Valentine’s Day. They’re not looking for shadows. They’re looking for romance.
As wildlife biologist Stam Zervanos explains, male groundhogs start emerging in early February, weeks before actual mating begins. This isn’t spring fever. It’s a strategy. Groundhogs hibernate solo and spend most of the year avoiding each other, so when it’s time to reconnect with potential partners, they need a little warm-up.
That early recon helps them scope out mates, reestablish bonds, and set the stage for March mating, perfectly timed so baby groundhogs are born in April and fattened up by summer.
It’s survival of the flirtiest.
In 1928, a blind man named Morris Frank stepped off a curb in New York City and into traffic.
He wasn’t alone.
At his side was Buddy, his newly trained guide dog. Together, they crossed the street safely. It looked like a small moment. It wasn’t. It was the public debut of something the US had never really seen before.
Frank had read a 1927 Saturday Evening Post article by Dorothy Harrison Eustis about programs in Europe that trained dogs to help soldiers blinded in World War I. Intrigued, he wrote to her. One invitation later, he was on a boat to Europe. He came back with Buddy and a bold plan to prove that guide dogs worked.
Word traveled fast. On January 29, 1929, they opened The Seeing Eye in Nashville. A month later, the first class graduated. A year after that, the school moved to New Jersey. Within five years, hundreds of dogs had been trained, and the ripple effects followed.
Laws changed. Businesses adapted. A blind man walking confidently with a dog became a familiar and accepted sight.
Today, guide dogs are allowed almost everywhere by federal law. All because one man and his dog crossed the road and showed the world what was possible.
Do you have something GOOD to share?
We’re always on the lookout for uplifting, enlightening, and engaging content to share with readers like you. If you have something you think should be featured in the Daily GOOD, let me know!
💬 From the group text…
This could be a recording of my inner monologue while watching Alex Honnold climb Taipei 101, if my inner monologue had a Jamaican accent!
Join the Group Text! Send us your social media gold.
Until tomorrow, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.