Usually, when you get canned, you find a bar and drown out your sorrows. Not this time.
I mean, your immediate life just changed. Tying on a good one is in order, right?
Well, not really.
I did go out and have a beer with a new former co-worker. He picked up the tab.
But the circumstances of this firing were so odd that I stayed sober to process the whole thing.
So no case of Michelob Ultra.
No rendering of garments.
No sackcloth and ashes.
No shaking my closed fists at the heavens.
Just the words of the immortal Ron Burgundy whispering my year, "well, that escalated quickly."
My greatest blessing in yesterday's chaos was my wife. She was at school when she got my text and called me shortly after leaving the restaurant.
I hit her with the news, gave her the play-by-play, and she said, "good, you didn't need to work there anymore."
Maybe in time, I'll tell more of this story, but suffice to say, my wife knew firsthand what I was dealing with daily.
When she got home, whenever I shook my bewildered head, she would say, "you'll be okay."
I highly recommend a wife that has your back. It makes life so much damn easier.
So today is a weird day.
It's rainy outside (which is good because we need the rain.) But I had a routine. I had the assurance of a paycheck. I had a job I liked.
There's the primary question: well, what now?
Followed by, "how the hell am I going to pay the bills?"
The big thing for me is cultivating new habits.
A couple of years ago, I read a blog post by Richard Hemmings called Warming Up.
Richard is a comedian and writer.
To jump-start his writing juices, he started a daily habit of writing a blog post of his day. He wanted to write more, so he used his warming up to do it. He's been reasonably successful.
I miss writing more than Slack messages, emails, and the occasional clever tweet.
So I'm out of practice in writing long form.
So this seems like an excellent place to start.
So I fired up my Scrivener App and started writing a brain dump of you will.
I do have a loose plan for today. First, a couple of home projects, like cleaning up a mess in my room and cleaning my office.
Then I need to update and freshen up my resume.
I need to look at the list I've been promising myself to do for years.
I need to start thinking of my five-year plan.
I need to start my twenty-seven pictures a day project.
I need to start losing weight.
There is one thing I'm relatively confident in: I'm not a perfect man.
I made my share of mistakes both in my personal life and professional life.
During my tenure at my last job, I could've done things differently. I knew my missteps and was ready to correct 'em.
I did want my company to succeed. I knew what the company was coming up against and wanted everyone to pay their mortgage and live their life.
I worked every day towards that goal.
I didn't deserve what happened to me yesterday.
Maybe my timing was terrible, but that didn't warrant my firing. Other things were going on, and that cost me my livelihood.
By virtue of my Christian faith, I hope everyone involved will find the peace of Christ. I wish no one any ill will.
I am mad, but that's a feeling I'm laying at the foot of the cross and looking up, hoping for the okay to let go.
So today, under a very grey and rainy sky, I'm beginning again.