One Year Later

Today has been all about “relief” and “gratitude”. I was comfortably able to exhale, look back, and realise that I’m in a good place.

It was today, a year ago, when I was unexpectedly without a job. The place that I had gone to for 20 years made it abundantly clear that I was of no further value to them, and booted my sorry behind out the door.

I was looking at a few of the emails I sent out that day, and it’s really amazing how “normal” things have become again. A year ago, I was experiencing daily, sometimes ALL DAY panic attacks. I made finding a job.. a job. An unpaid one.

And then, two weeks later, I had a new job. It’s been a transition, and one I didn’t think I would be able to adjust to, at times. But I survived the year.

Today, instead of going out of my mind because I’d lost control over my life, I was worried about finding my hamster, who’d escaped from her cage (found her, thanks). I was working on loading laptops and scraping up enough AC adapters for the slew of new hires soon arriving. I was making a trip out of the office to a client’s house to fix a computer. I was hanging out in the Harley shop watching an exotic animal show for “Family Fun Day”. I was spending time with my family and cleaning mud off my dog’s paws.

I was happy about surviving a year without my former employer. It was like a birthday, really, without cake and presents. It was an “I can live without you just fine” kind of day, and that felt pretty good.

Of course, I wouldn’t have made it to this spot as easily without loving support from my friends and family. Thank you so much.