Bonus Episode: What Happens When We Think We Know - The Psychology of Certainty, Assumptions & Curiosity

Welcome back to the Lemon Tree Coaching Podcast, where inner work meets everyday life.

I'm your host, Dr. Allison Succomelli, and today's conversation is for anyone who has ever walked away from work with tears in their eyes, not because they hated the work itself, but because they loved it.

And there's a particular kind of grief that doesn't receive much attention.

We tend to talk openly about grieving relationships or acknowledge the pain of losing loved ones.

We often recognize the sadness of moving away from home or watching our children grow up.

But we rarely talk about grieving a career you were passionate about because of the people around you slowly and sometimes invisibly were poisoning the environment.

And sometimes it isn't the profession itself that breaks your heart, it's what happens inside the profession and what those in leadership positions allow to continue for whatever reason, or are the poison themselves at times.

And maybe you are or were a teacher who adored watching students discover something new.

Maybe you are or were a nurse who loved caring for patients.

Maybe you are a therapist, a social worker, an artist, a nonprofit leader, or someone who once woke up excited to go to work.

Then something changed.

Perhaps gossip became the culture.

Perhaps bullying became disguised as leadership.

And maybe integrity became inconvenient and tasks shifted from being meaningful to just checking a box and moving on with whatever the thing was.

And maybe every day felt less about doing meaningful work and more about surviving difficult people who will just never get it.

And eventually, you found yourself grieving something that still technically existed.

You still have the job, the career you once loved, once had dreamed about.

You just no longer have the experience that made you fall in love with it or stay in love with it.

And that's where psychology gives us language for something many people may feel, but struggle to recognize or explain.

Welcome back to the Lemon Tree Coaching Podcast, where inner work meets everyday life.

I'm your host, Dr. Allison Succomelli, and today's conversation is for anyone who has ever walked away from work with tears in their eyes, not because they hated the work itself, but because they loved it.

And there's a particular kind of grief that doesn't receive much attention.

We tend to talk openly about grieving relationships or acknowledge the pain of losing loved ones.

We often recognize the sadness of moving away from home or watching our children grow up.

But we rarely talk about grieving a career you were passionate about because of the people around you slowly and sometimes invisibly were poisoning the environment.

And sometimes it isn't the profession itself that breaks your heart, it's what happens inside the profession and what those in leadership positions allow to continue for whatever reason, or are the poison themselves at times.

And maybe you are or were a teacher who adored watching students discover something new.

Maybe you are or were a nurse who loved caring for patients.

Maybe you are a therapist, a social worker, an artist, a nonprofit leader, or someone who once woke up excited to go to work.

Then something changed.

Perhaps gossip became the culture.

Perhaps bullying became disguised as leadership.

And maybe integrity became inconvenient and tasks shifted from being meaningful to just checking a box and moving on with whatever the thing was.

And maybe every day felt less about doing meaningful work and more about surviving difficult people who will just never get it.

And eventually, you found yourself grieving something that still technically existed.

You still have the job, the career you once loved, once had dreamed about.

You just no longer have the experience that made you fall in love with it or stay in love with it.

And that's where psychology gives us language for something many people may feel, but struggle to recognize or explain.