Dancing on My Own: A Corporate Breakup and the Fall of Empires

‍ ‍6/23/2026

United States

“The company”

“I’m giving it my all, but I’m not the girl you are taking home, oh.. I keep dancing on my own”

                                                                                                                        Dancing on my own- Robyn

I have been playing this song repeatedly for the last four days. It soothes the ache in my chest.

You see, this is a breakup story.  No, not with a significant other but with a company that I had committed my life to for the last 8 years.  I poured my heart, sweat and tears into this company. But alas, the company decided we should part ways, amicably of course. No need to get emotional about it, they said.  

After the initial shock, I did what anyone does in a breakup: I obsessively checked every email, hoping they’d reach out. Nothing. I checked my voicemails to see if the company had changed their mind. Nope. I went through the last conversation repeatedly in my head. “What did I do wrong?”  

Weeks later, the truth settled in my bones. I had given everything, but I was not the one they were taking home.

So how do I keep “dancing on my own?"  

Let’s leave that question for a moment.

In the 1990’s, entire nations knew this ache.  As the Soviet era crumbled, the Warsaw Pact — that Cold War alliance binding Eastern Europe to Moscow — formally dissolved in 1991. Countries had invested their loyalty, resources and identity for generations; they too had poured their hearts, sweat, and tears. Instead, they were rewarded with a cold, bureaucratic goodbye.  Just strategic inevitability.

No need to get emotional about it.  

There was grief, quiet and profound. A sense of abandonment. Yet from those ashes rose stories of incredible resilience. Families in Poland rebuilt lives after decades of control. Nations like the Baltic states, with fierce determination, reclaimed their independence and forged new futures.

They kept dancing on their own. 

Thus, this brings me to my own original question “how do I keep dancing on my own?”  As with many of my fellow heartbroken colleagues, I am still figuring it out.  However, I am hopeful.  After all, if entire nations can survive institutional breakups, rebuild from the ground up, and thrive — then perhaps I can too.

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