Today is an anniversary. The anniversary of being handed a box and being told to fill it with all the junk in my office. Yup...one year ago today I joined millions of unemployed Americans....I was fired.
The moments after being told, no matter HOW you were told, (in this case I was given the ole' "We're going in a different direction" speech) your heart drops, and panic sets in. And oh the panic was there. I had a mortgage, a kid....expenses!
But as the post-canned days passed other doors opened....and now a year later I can look back on April 11th as a gift.
The biggest gift they gave me, above anything else, was the gift of time. I couldn't know it at the time but I was going to NEED that time. Time to really connect with my daughter, time to spend with my ailing grandmother, time to find a new passion.
I relish my time with Betty now, even on the days when I'm tired and want nothing more than a nap. And had I still been employed at my old company I never would have been able to take the days I did spending time at Grandma's side as she slipped away. Had I still been working there, Type A Images never would have happened.
A lot of people are facing the dreaded pink slip these days, job loss is something touching more families than we can ever know. But, in some ways, losing a job can be gaining a life. Take the time to really seek out what you want, what matters to you, which path is better.
I toyed with the thought of even THANKING my ex-employer for cutting me free. It truly transformed my life in a way I could have never imagined. The time being the greatest gift of all.
