One Year Ago Today, I Got Laid Off

On this day last year, I received the news that the company I had been with for eight years and that I had moved across the country to join would not need my services anymore.  I was part of an economic staff downsizing. I’m sure this is what I looked like when I was I told “it is time for us to part ways.”

Truthfully though, I was not all that surprised.  The company needed to find money and the logical choice was a senior manager.  Plus one of my peers jumped the gun and started making some changes to my programs without my consent, one of my direct reports was having regular meetings with my boss and said boss was overall just acting strange…three red flags that took a bit of the surprise away from the situation.  It really sucked that it was on a Sunday and that I had to exit the building immediately, but other than that business is business and I understand what needed to happen under these economic conditions. 

One thing I told myself after it happened was that I would never make the mistake of thinking a company was like my family.  I would never emotionally invest myself in a job.  Well…it is one year later.  I didn’t work for six months, but then I got a part-time job.  I make good money.  The company has a meaningful and more importantly honest mission.  Check it out.  And I work with the same 30 kids every day in an after school enrichment program.   I get to teach what I want, the way I want and I don’t have to grade papers.  And…I am 100% emotionally invested.  So much for being a hard ass.  I’m truly enjoying life.  I get more time with my partner, more time to cook, more time with friends and overall just a new found joy in enjoying the present.  Plus, getting laid off inspired me to start this blog.  It has been therapeutic and a creative outlet for me and my insanity.  You never know all the things that can happen in a year, but what I know is I can’t complain about this last year.  I feel good and I feel happy.