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Chevy Chase Lifestyle feature — "Failure Is Not a Bad Word" (June issue)

"Who am I if I am not this?" I have watched a lot of accomplished people in the DMV sit with that question over the past year. The federal workforce got reshaped. Severance packages landed on dinner tables in Bethesda and happy hours in Arlington. People who built real careers watched the role they spent years building get reorganized out from under them. This month, Chevy Chase Lifestyle ran my story. The title says the part most leaders are afraid to say out loud: Failure Is Not a Bad Word. June is Men's Health Month, and the men most at risk are not always the ones with the worst lab results. They are the ones whose identity was tied to a job that is no longer there. I know that ground. I lost my career and my marriage in the same season, and for a while I feared losing custody of my children. I went into survival mode. What I learned in that season is the reason Fail4ward exists. What you do is not who you are. Your identity is not what you built. It is what you uncover through the fire. If the title you have worn for a decade suddenly feels heavier than it used to, that is not weakness. That is information. I am not here to be anyone's savior. I am the tour guide. You still choose the path and take the next step forward. The full feature is in the comments. Everyone fails. Winners Fail Forward.