I got fired while on vacation with my family at the beach.
It was in the late summer of 2004. I got the call from my manager while sipping a beer on the deck of the rental home, and he gave me the news.
“I’m so sorry to inform you, but you’ve been put on the list of people who will be laid off…”
I have no idea what he said after that first sentence. In one dreadful instant, the culmination of a lifetime of worry came to a head and flipped me upside down.
I had no control, and I was terrified.
What am I going to do?
What will my wife and kids think of me? What will my friends say about me? What will the world think of me?
Am I a failure?
Am I less of a husband, father, man?
And why me? What’s wrong with me?
Am I not good enough at my job? Am I not a valuable employee, or a valuable person?
As it turns out, I didn’t get laid off at that time. I was rescued off the list and moved to another group and set of projects.
Crisis averted.
But that crisis, that existential moment of dread, has become one of the moments for which I am most thankful.
It woke me up. It was the inflection point.
It was the moment that I decided to change the story and focus on what I could control.
