Why Getting Laid Off Was The Life Change I Needed To Chase My Dreams

Sometimes life has a way of pushing us forward along our path when it seems like we are getting stuck or stagnant – whether we realize it or not. I think we’ve all had moments where it seems like a big, giant boulder has been dropped on the road we’ve been traveling on, forcing us to recalculate our life’s GPS.  Prior to getting laid off, there were several times when I encountered friends and various people who left their jobs for one reason or another.  Whether it was getting fired or laid off, something happened to spark changes in their lives. After hearing a similar story from a third person in a month’s time, these encounters didn’t seem like a coincidence. I felt like there was a lesson I should learn, but it wasn’t until I was laid off that it all clicked. All these peoples’ stories involved scenarios that could make you feel pretty crappy about yourself. But when I talked to them a while later, they all said they were happier than they’d ever been after finding new jobs. What seemed like a pretty bad thing, turned out to be the best thing for them.

Well as I mentioned before, I was laid off in October of 2018 from my job as a medical social worker for a hospice agency. I enjoyed the work I was doing and the people I was doing it with.  I loved my patients and their families, despite meeting them under the most difficult of circumstances. I didn’t see myself leaving that job at all, even though I had a dream in the back of my mind to pursue more opportunities to showcase my writing someday. I was working for a good company that truly cared about their employees. One thing a good hospice agency (or any healthcare entity for that matter) needs is compassion, a sense of humanity. This agency had it in spades and I felt lucky to work for them. Unfortunately, patient census dipped low enough that they could only afford to have one social worker on staff in my area, so they had to lay me off. It really threw me for a loop. I didn’t see it coming and it ended up turning my life, that predictable life I had going for me, right on its head.

I was suddenly thrust into a world where change was not only forced upon me, but absolutely necessary. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was running myself ragged for my patients, the companies I worked for, and everyone else. I wasn’t taking enough time for myself and my health was beginning to show it. I talk about that period of my life frequently because it was a major lesson time in my life and it continues to teach me. Since that time, I’ve been able to create a low stress, more peaceful life. I’m still trying to improve and get to where I want to be, but I can say with great certainty that getting laid off was the best thing that could have happened to me.

While I was brainstorming this post, I decided to watch “You’ve Got Mail” that was showing on TV. I’ve seen it plenty of times before, but I had never really paid much attention to the beginning. At the start of the movie, the protagonist writes to her mysterious penpal and wonders if she is doing enough with her life. She reflects on her past and wonders if she is only running the bookstore her mother started because she was never brave enough to do anything else. This was a salient moment in the movie for me because it made me pause and realize that as life continues to get in her way, she has to make changes whether she wants to or not… much like I have. If the big, bad book selling competitor, Fox Books, hadn’t moved in around the corner, she would have likely spent her whole life managing her bookstore and wondering if she could have done something more. Or she might have gotten the case of the ‘Somedays’. You know, ‘someday’ I’ll write that children’s book, for example. It’s what she talks about in the movie.  Kathleen Kelly is forced to move past the comforts of what she knows and actually see what else the world had in store for her. How many of us have those inner dreams, those things we secretly want to do, but instead we settle for the humdrum, dependable routine of everyday life? First a week goes by, then a month, and soon a year or even several years have passed. Before we know it, we never do anything about those dreams we think about as we sit idly by, coasting through life.

For me, pursuing the pipedream I’ve had for several years now seemed daunting and, if I’m being completely honest, still gets my anxiety up. It’s nerve wracking because all of a sudden, I have found myself in unchartered waters. No longer is my life completely predictable. But at the same time, as unease threatens to take hold at any moment, I wouldn’t change it for anything. My life is calmer and my energy levels are slowly getting better. Overall, I can’t complain.

Now, I don’t know what all is going on in your lives and I realize that leaving a job isn’t always going to result in a big ah-ha moment like what has happened to me. There are many different scenarios surrounding leaving a job. But despite our life circumstances, it is possible to take the steps necessary to follow our heart. Even if they are just baby steps, we CAN move closer to our dreams. What is something you have always wanted to do?

That. Right there. What was that first thing that popped into your mind when you read that question? Try to think of your first step to get closer to that dream. After all, don’t we all deserve to be living our best, happiest life? Life is more than just a paycheck and paying bills. It can be easy to let fear and self-doubt creep in, but don’t let that deter you. Goals seem less daunting and intimidating when we break them down into steps. There will be bumps in the road and there will be obstacles to overcome along the way, but that is part of the journey. The journey itself helps us to grow as people, and sometimes it’s those unpredictable, surprising roads that help us grow the most.