The Ghosts of Roles Past

It’s the week before Christmas, and while the office might be quiet, it’s not exactly peaceful. Some of us are being haunted.

Not by holiday stress. Not by one glaring failure.

By ghosts.

The ghost of your original job description which is now barely recognizable under ten layers of extra responsibilities you never signed up for. The ghost of every one-time favor that became a permanent expectation. The ghost of meetings you were never supposed to attend… but never managed to leave. And worst of all? The ghost of the person you used to be, the one who thought carrying it all would earn you recognition.

These ghosts don’t show up at midnight. They visit through vague email requests, recurring calendar invites, and that slow-building dread when someone says, “Can you just…” and you already know you’ll say yes.

You didn’t sign up for all of it. But you didn’t say no, either. And now, here you are.

This is what role creep looks like. It doesn’t arrive with fireworks. It drips. It accumulates. And then one day you wake up dragging a chain of unspoken expectations, barely remembering where it all started.

December makes it harder to ignore. Everyone’s moving slow, but your calendar is still packed. The work feels heavier. The spark feels duller. And that weight you’ve been carrying? Suddenly impossible to justify.

This is your Marley moment.

Take inventory. What are you holding onto that no longer belongs to you? What tasks, expectations, or roles are ghosts of what once made sense but now just linger out of habit? What can you hand off, shut down, or redefine before the new year begins?

The ghosts aren’t here to punish. They’re here to warn. They’re here to remind you that you can’t carry it all forever and you don’t have to.

The new year is coming. You can carry the chains of last year… or you can start shedding them now.

Your call.