Laid off for the Better

Daily writing prompt

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

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After losing my job I went through a whole lifetime of feelings. I was sad, I was scared, I was frustrated- for years I had put all of my effort into this company. So much time invested. So many days of anxiety. All for them to throw me away like a pile of trash when I was deemed "redundant." 

The more I thought about it the more I came to realize I put so much of my own value into that job. It was so much of my worth. Because of it I was "the rich auntie", I "worked all of the time", I had no hobbies, no life outside of work. Every day I walked around in a grey cloud- a robot doing the things. The job had taken over my entire identity. I was the job and the job was me. I didn't know who I was without it. I didn't know who I was as a person if I wasn't making X amount per year... if I wasn't working X amount of hours per week. I had lost myself in the corporate jungle. My identity equated to a Sr. Client Management position. That was it. 

I'm coming to realize now that our worth is not about the amount of money we pull in. It's not about the status of our career or how long you spend climbing the ladder every week. 

I'm the happiest I've been in 10 years. I'm no longer waking up miserable every morning doing a thing I dread for 10 hours a day. Instead, each day is exciting. Each filled with different possibilities, different ventures. Time to allow myself to grow. Time to allow myself to discover who I really am, what I really like. 

I may not have much money, I may not have a coveted job title, my life may have taken a huge U-turn and trust me, that is scary. But, I am chasing my dreams, I am writing every day, I am taking chances...for once I am truly living. 

And I think for me, that was the lesson in all of this. Money is not everything. Your job is not everything. But your happiness? Your dreams? Those are.  Those are the things that make you get out of bed in the morning, excited about a new day- what make your life worth fighting for. The things that make you feel like you have a purpose here on this Earth. 

Happiness is always worth sacrificing for.