At 50, I thought my career was behind me. But when I joined a fast-paced startup, I quickly became the target of a young colleague’s jealousy. What unfolded was more than a battle for respect. It led to a shocking twist that changed everything.
Losing my husband left me feeling like a ship adrift. The days blurred together, and it seemed impossible to find purpose again.
The psychology degree I’d tucked away years ago suddenly seemed like my last lifeline. So, I dusted it off and decided it was time to use it in my 50s.
When I landed an internship at an IT startup, I could hardly believe it. Technology wasn’t exactly my field.
But I thought, “Why not? Maybe this is the fresh start I need.”
My new boss, Liam, was 28. Sharp, ambitious, and a bit too focused on one thing. Success. Profits, growth, numbers.
People? Not so much.
During our first meeting, Liam barely looked at me. I could feel the skepticism rolling off him.
“So, I was thinking,” I began cautiously. “It might help if we focus on building stronger connections within the tea…”
Liam interrupted me, “We’re growing fast. I need results. What exactly are you suggesting?”
“Well, it’s about creating a balance.”
“You’re an intern, right? Just listen and repeat,” he said, already turning back to his laptop.
That was it. The conversation’s over. I left the office feeling deflated.
Maybe I am too old for this.
I needed a fresh perspective, so I called Jake my best friend.
Jake had always been the one to pull me through, even in my darkest moments. After my husband passed away, there were days when I couldn’t even get out of bed. But Jake was there, encouraging me when I couldn’t see past the grief.
We agreed to meet at our usual spot, a quiet café around the corner from my place. It was one of those cozy spots where time seemed to slow down.
Jake was already there when I arrived.
“Hey, Mary. You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind,” Jake said, waving me over.
I sat down. “I don’t know, Jake. This new job… It’s harder than I thought. Liam’s young, and he’s all about numbers and profits.”
“Liam, huh? The 28-year-old boss you told me about?”
I sighed. “Yeah. He’s not focused on people. I suggested some ideas, but he brushed them off.”
“Sounds like he’s missing the bigger picture,” Jake replied. “You’ve been through a lot. You know how to bring people together, how to help them connect. Why not use that?”
I looked at him, confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Remember that emotional support program you wrote as your thesis? Why not offer that as the team-building event? It’s what you know best, and it works.”
I thought for a moment. He was right. The program had given me back my strength after losing my husband.
“Maybe you’re onto something,” I said, a bit more hopeful. “I’ll pitch the idea to Liam.”
Jake grinned. “Now you’re talking. And remember, if anyone can get through to a guy like him, it’s you.”
With renewed confidence, I approached Liam the next day. After explaining the team-building event, I watched his face, hoping for some spark of interest.
“Alright, Mary. Let’s give it a shot,” Liam said, though his voice lacked the enthusiasm I’d hoped for.
“Thanks, Liam. I’ll make sure the team will benefit from it.”
Suddenly, my eyes caught Lora, who’d been standing just outside the office, clearly eavesdropping on our conversation. She stepped into my path before I could walk by.
“Team-building, huh? Sounds like a big project,” she said, her eyes glinting with something I couldn’t quite place.
“It should be a good way to get everyone more connected,” I said, trying to stay upbeat despite the uncomfortable tension I felt with her.
“Liam agreed to this? Surprising, he’s not really into this soft stuff.”
I shrugged lightly. “He’s willing to try, so that’s something.”
She paused for a moment, then smiled again, a little too brightly.
“Hey, since you’ll be busy organizing all the activities, why don’t I handle the logistics? I’m good at that kind of thing.”
There was something about the way she said it that made me hesitate. Still, I didn’t want to come across as untrusting, especially since I was new.
“That will be helpful,” I said. “Thanks, Lora.”
“No problem! I’ll take care of everything.”
I had no idea at the time that she had her own agenda. I was just grateful for the help.
The day of the team-building event was supposed to be my chance to prove myself. But when I arrived at the venue, there was nothing. No decorations, no people, and no sign that an event was planned.
Something was wrong. As I stood there, staring at the empty space, my phone rang. It was Liam.
“Mary, where are you? Everyone’s here, waiting. You said you’d be running this thing, and now you’re not even here!”
Panic surged through me. “What!? Liam, I’m here at the location I arranged. No one’s here.”
“What location?” His voice hardened. “The whole team’s at the new place Lora said you picked.”
Lora. Of course.
It was a setup, and I had walked right into it. That was her way of making me look incompetent in front of Liam.
“I’m on my way,” I managed to say before hanging up.
I dialed Jake. “Jake, I need your help. Fast.”
“What happened?”
“Lora changed the location for the team-building without telling me. I can make it work. But it has to be my territory, not Lora’s one. I need you to bring everybody to my house.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there soon,” he said without hesitation.
I rushed home. I had just enough time to pull things together.
I set up tables on the terrace, lit lanterns, and made the garden feel as welcoming as possible. My nerves were on edge, but I wasn’t about to let that situation get the best of me. Not yet.
Jake arrived with the entire team packed into his van. The employees spilled out, looking confused but intrigued by the cozy setting.
The event was going better than I could have imagined. People paired up, laughing and chatting, their usual office facades dropping away. The atmosphere in my garden seemed to work its magic.
Liam, who had always been so serious and closed off, was finally loosening up. He moved from group to group, engaging in conversations, and even smiled.
At one point, I noticed Lora and Liam paired up. I edged a little closer, curious about their conversation.
“This place is really nice,” Lora said, glancing around the garden.
“Yeah, I have to admit, it’s… different from the usual corporate events.”
Lora laughed lightly. “Different is good, right? Sometimes, I think we all get stuck in our little bubbles at the office.”
Liam leaned back in his chair. “You’re right. I didn’t realize how much the team needed this. We’re always pushing for results, overlooking something important.”
I saw them both letting their guards down. For a moment, I felt a pang of satisfaction.
Maybe this event will bring them closer together in more ways than one.
I caught Lora watching me from across the garden. Even with the evening going smoothly, I had a feeling this wasn’t the end of her games.
***
As the evening wound down and people began to leave, I noticed Lora with Liam near my wardrobe. Lora glanced around casually and then reached for a stack of papers. She picked them up, flipping through the pages briefly.
“Hey, Mary,” she called out. “What’s this? Something important?”
Liam’s face turned red with anger when he noticed the papers in Lora’s hands. He grabbed the documents.
“What the hell are these doing here?” he snapped, glaring at me. “I prepared these for a meeting with investors. I left them on my desk, Mary.”
I opened my mouth to explain, but he didn’t give me a chance.
“Don’t pretend to be the innocent intern. It’s obvious now. You’re here working for the competition, aren’t you? I trusted you!”
“No, Liam, I…” I tried, but he cut me off with a dismissive wave.
“We’ll talk later. Stay out of my way for now.”
With that, he turned and left the room. I turned to Lora.
She smirked. “I didn’t think those documents were THAT important. I just wanted to teach you a lesson.”
“A lesson? You’ve ruined everything!”
Still, I believed the real Lora, the one I’d seen laughing with Liam earlier, was still in there somewhere. But at that moment, she chose to be her worst self.
I sank into a chair, feeling utterly defeated. Jake came over, resting a hand on my shoulder.
“Everything happens for a reason, Mary. Don’t give up just yet.”
When I received a message from Liam asking me to meet him the next day at the office, I didn’t know what to expect, but I decided to go there with my head held high.
The next afternoon, I arrived at the office with a heavy heart, and when I walked in, I saw both Liam and Lora there.
“Mary, I… I need to apologize,” Lora began, her voice shaking slightly. “I was the one who moved the location for the team-building event. I wanted to make you look bad, and… I also planted those documents on your desk.”
“Why?” I asked, barely able to believe what I was hearing.
Lora sighed, dropping her gaze to the floor.
“I was jealous. I thought you were drawing Liam’s attention away from me, and I let that cloud my judgment. But after the team-building event and after hearing what you said… I realized how wrong I was.”
Liam, who had been listening quietly, stepped forward.
“She’s telling the truth, Mary. And honestly, I’m thankful for what you did.” He turned to me, his tone softer. “That evening in your garden, I didn’t just feel like the boss anymore. I felt like a regular person again. I started noticing things I hadn’t in years. It was a wake-up call.”
He glanced at Lora and winked, making her blush and giggle nervously. I couldn’t help but smile. It seemed that the casual, relaxed atmosphere of that evening had done more than I could have hoped for.
Liam then turned back to me. “Mary, your methods really worked. So, from today, I’d like to make it official. You’ll be the company’s emotional recovery coach.”
I was stunned for a moment, then broke into a wide smile. “Really? I… thank you, Liam.”
Liam added, “And we’ve got more to celebrate. The morning meeting with the investors went great. So, I’m inviting the whole team to stay after work tonight for pizza. From now on, let’s make it a tradition!”
I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in weeks. The weight of uncertainty was gone. I had found my path and could focus on helping others do the same.
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Lottie Moss had to rush to the hospital after accidentally taking too much Ozempic. The model shared that she experienced severe side effects from the drug, even though she only weighs about 9 stone.
Lottie Moss had to go to the hospital after taking too much Ozempic, which a friend had obtained from a doctor without a prescription.
The 26-year-old model became very ill, having a seizure and severe dehydration, even though she weighed about 60kg (9 stone). She said she would rather “die” than use Ozempic again. The drug is intended for people with obesity or diabetes and is currently in short supply worldwide.
Lottie Moss’s sister is Kate Moss, a famous supermodel known for her slim figure in the 1990s and her famous quote, “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”
Lottie described her seizure, which happened because of severe dehydration, as one of the scariest things she’s ever experienced. She said her face and hands clenching up was terrifying.
She mentioned that she wished she had known more before using Ozempic, and her weight dropped to around 53kg in a few weeks. After seeing doctors, she learned that the dosage she was using was meant for someone weighing at least 100 kilos, which is almost double her weight.
Lottie Moss has admitted to taking Ozempic and says she would rather ‘die’ than use it again
Lottie Moss explained that a few months ago, she wasn’t happy with her weight and had a friend who could get her Ozempic, but not through a proper medical channel. She didn’t go to a doctor for a proper prescription, check-ups, or tests, which are necessary when using a medication like Ozempic.
She said, “It’s a medication, and it’s dangerous. It’s meant for people with much larger body sizes. The dose I was using was for people who weigh 100 kilos or more, while I was in the 50s range.”
Lottie wished she had known more before taking it and now regrets her decision. She injected it into her leg and said it was the worst choice she ever made.
She shared a warning to others, saying, “If you’re thinking about taking it, don’t. It’s not worth it.”
On her podcast, Dream On, Lottie described the severe side effects she experienced, such as vomiting, a loss of color in her face, and a dramatic drop in weight. Before taking Ozempic, she weighed around 60 kilos, dropped to 57 kilos after the first dose, and reached a low of 53 kilos, which is just over eight stone.
Lottie Moss said she would rather not take Ozempic again, as it made her feel extremely nauseous.
She used it for two weeks, taking injections with a pen. Each week she had to take a new dose, and she felt sicker than she ever had before. She started with a lower dose but moved to a higher one, and ended up being bedridden for two days because she felt so ill and lost weight rapidly.
She began at about 60 kilos and dropped to 57 with the first dose, then to 54, and her lowest weight was 53 kilos. She described this rapid weight loss as unhealthy.
During those two days in bed, she wanted to stop taking the medication, but since it’s not like a pill you can just skip, it was already in her system and hard to stop. She even told her friend she couldn’t keep any food or water down and needed to go to the hospital because she felt so sick.
After being rushed to the emergency room, Lottie had a seizure because of severe dehydration. She described the experience as “horrible,” with her close friend having to hold her feet down while she contorted on the hospital floor.
Lottie, known from Celebs Go Dating, said the nurse was shocked when she learned the high dose of Ozempic Lottie had been taking and how much weight she had lost in just a short time.
She explained, “We went to the ER at 3 a.m., and when we told the nurse about the dose I was taking, she was horrified and said it was far too much. She also asked about my weight loss, and when I told her, she sent me straight to the emergency room, where I was wheeled through the hospital.”
Lottie added that she felt extremely sick and almost passed out when she went to the bathroom. Once she was in the examination room, she had a seizure due to dehydration, which she described as one of the scariest experiences of her life. Her friend Reece had to hold her feet down, and she felt her body and hands clenching up uncontrollably, making the situation terrifying and painful.
Lottie has talked before about how difficult it was growing up in the “toxic” fashion industry and her time in rehab for drug addiction.
She started modeling at 16 after being discovered when she was 13. She said she always felt like she was living in the shadow of her sister, Kate.
Lottie Moss has shared that she faced harsh criticism for eating on set during fashion shoots and was told by her modeling agency that she needed a 23-inch waist to walk in runway shows. She was traumatized by comments about her body and being called names like “the ham and cheese sandwich girl.” She feels lucky not to have developed an eating disorder.
Kate Moss, Lottie’s sister, was known in the 90s for the “heroin chic” look, which emphasized being extremely thin. She now regrets the phrase “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” and has talked about the negative comments she received from parents about their daughters having eating disorders.
Lottie believes that with the rise of Ozempic, a drug popularized by celebrities for weight loss, the harmful “heroin chic” trend is making a troubling comeback. She wants to use her experience to warn others, saying that Ozempic is meant for diabetes, not weight loss.
Lottie expressed concern that the media’s focus on extreme weight loss is harmful, especially for people with eating disorders or those struggling with their weight. She noted that the body positivity movement, which celebrated diverse body types and curvier figures, seems to be disappearing in favor of the old “heroin chic” trend. She encourages everyone to appreciate their body as it is and avoid extreme measures that could harm their health.
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