Her goodbye hugs couldn't hide the hurt she felt inside as she bid farewell to colleagues, even though the decision to leave a job she loved was one she freely made.

It had taken many years of diligence to scale the ranks of her profession, but now at 40 she could say she had finally reached that point of complete fulfillment, a point at which she knew she was awfully good at what she did, highly regarded in a very competitive field.