From Despair to Opportunity

You didn’t see it coming. Felt like a complete blow out of the left field…but little did you know, it had been brewing for a while. Something that was meant to knock you down, something that was meant as a setback for you, something you didn’t have any control over. Something that perhaps took a group effort to intricately plan and accomplish. And when you least expected it to happen, it did.

You lost your job…

A job you enjoyed and were happy to report to each day and gave it your all. Perhaps your dream job. A job where you got along well with your peers and leadership team. A job that you had worked at for some time. Could have been months, maybe even years-and thought perhaps this could be one you would eventually retire from. May have even been a job that you didn’t all too much care about for whatever reason, but besides all of that-you were comfortable. Just existing and carrying on day by day, could have been doing the bare minimum or coming in and giving your all despite receiving much of any recognition. And then came those words you weren’t expecting to hear on some random day that let you know your employment has now ended. Now here comes all the questions swirling in your head: “What now?” “How am I going to pay my bills?” “I don’t have another source of income, so what will I do?” “How do I get back out there and look for a new job?” “I’m so embarrassed to have to now apply for unemployment” “What if no one wants to hire me?” and the list goes on…So the golden question does indeed become: What now?

I invite you to consider a new perspective: Maybe you being let go from your job, however it may have occurred, was actually a great thing.

I know, seems absolutely crazy right? Because how could you losing your job be something that is actually good? So then let me ask you: is there a goal or dream that you always wanted to pursue and for whatever reason didn’t? Is there a business idea you have and haven’t built upon or created your business plan? Wrote that book you always talked about? Is there a skill-set that you uniquely possess and are not putting it to use or sharing with others? How about something you’re passionate about and didn’t have time before to work on or actually do it? Or how about, have you taken the time to create another stream of income for yourself as a way to build a strong financial foundation? That would silence the immediate worry about how you’ll survive financially based on the unexpected occurring with you losing your job.

The point to all of this is, just because you lost your job and didn’t expect it-doesn’t mean that’s the end of the story. It’s not the worst thing in the world as, this could have just simply been the time. I want to also insert here that there is nothing for you to be shamed or embarrassed about if this has happened to you, because it has happened to many. Could be that you being let go was warranted based on the reason, but to those where this may seem like an unfair card dealt in life-yes this reality may be hard and upsetting but there is opportunity awaiting you. The easiest thing to do is immediately look at the negative side of it and stress yourself out to the point of despair, but the key is to keep going. This may have been a setback for you, and it may have even knocked you down-but don’t allow it to completely knock you out. You have to get back up and continue to press forward. Remember, a setback is nothing but a setup for a comeback. Don’t put a period where a comma belongs.

You may be wondering, how could she say all of this, she doesn’t know what I’ve been through, how it feels to be let go from a job and it’s not as easy as she may make it sound. You’re right, it’s not easy and yes I do know exactly what it feels like because-it happened to me. It happened to me when I least expected it, but at the same time I’m glad it happened and the way it did. It was that unexpected termination from the job I held that pushed me to put into action the plans I had, had for many years of starting my own consulting firm, and therefore I had the pleasure of introducing my firm to you last year: LH HR Consulting, LLC. Had that termination not occurred in my life when it did, I wouldn’t have pushed forward with opening my business creating that new opportunity for myself in which I share my expert knowledge and skills within the Human Resources field daily. It has not been an easy journey, and I’m still continuing to build upon my business each day, but the point is I didn’t allow what I initially saw as a setback to hold me back but instead I viewed it as an opportunity to pursue my passion and I now reap the benefits of that one decision.

It’s a choice you have to make, an important one and your perspective plays an important role. And based on the choice you make, that will determine if you’ve chosen to view something that may have caught you off guard as a negative-or something instead that you can turn into a positive and build upon. I challenge you that if you at any point find yourself terminated from you job in an unexpected way-don’t allow it to become the end of your story, but instead write a new chapter.