It was the start of a cold Canberra winter earlier this year when former health and transport minster Meegan Fitzharris announced her shock resignation.
She says she spent the next few months hibernating, to use a seasonal metaphor, reconnecting with people and taking time out to reassess what was important in life.
Come spring, she was ready to re-emerge.
Next week she will begin a new role at Australian National University as a senior fellow in health policy and leadership.
"It was a real time of reflection," Ms Fitzharris said of the months after her resignation.
"Sometimes I think in politics you tend to inevitably become surrounded by what maybe isn't going so well and lose sight of the things are are going well and the enormous opportunities we have."
Ms Fitzharris was health minister during a time of upheaval in the department and came under significant public pressure.
She was also Transport Minister and oversaw the roll-out of light rail from Gungahlin to Canberra.
She says she's a lot calmer these days and has come to accept there is always going to be contest in politics.
She has mixed feelings about not being in the thick of the action as the 2020 election edges closer.
But she has no interest in a return to politics - state or federal (she has no plans of giving up her dual citizenship for that matter).
She sees the role at the ANU as a new way of contributing to public life.
"There are lots of ways to create value and contribute," she said.
"Politics is one way, but not the only way."
In her role at ANU, Ms Fitzharris will develop a program to give senior health executives the management, policy, leadership and analytical expertise to steer the Australian health sector through challenges ahead.
Ms Fitzharris said leadership development would be a strong focus in her new role at ANU.
She said it didn't matter how strong your reform program was if it didn't have good leadership.
"It goes without saying that good leadership is important but I think sometimes it's not a focus of policy reform or service delivery reform," she said.
Dean of the ANU College of Health and Medicine Professor Russell Gruen said Ms Fitzharris was perfect for the role.
"We need to bring multiple perspectives to tackle emerging challenges in the health sector and I've been looking for the right person to champion this for some time," he said.
