Routwash
n.
a moment of panic that you’ll end up looking back on years of labor with little to show for it, that despite all the time you’ve spent gathering skills and connections and experiences, many of them will prove to have been worth almost nothing in the long run, redeemable for petty cash, a line on a résumé, a few compliments, or a handful of magic beans.
From rout, a chaotic retreat + wash, a meager return on investment + outwash, the gravelly sediment left by water flowing from a melting glacier.
