So. Here I am on March 23rd, exactly three months from that particular day. The date that will resonate as the day I was “separated from employment” for the first time since I starting working at age fifteen. I am now fifty-one.
I remember vividly how I felt as I drove out of the parking lot of the former employer who had deemed my efforts there as “Poor Performance”. I definitely remember and had captured the giant smile on my face as I started to realize that I no longer had to deal with “colleagues” who received me, or rather, did not receive me and all that I brought to the work environment. I now understood implicitly that I somehow was off putting in a way that would result in termination.
On that particular day, at just after 10AM, I was told that my services were no longer needed there. And that in a year or two, that I could re-apply to another role. AS IF. No thank you. I suppose they thought they were being kind to tell me that I hadn’t done anything egregious, and I hadn’t stolen anything, so there was no reason that I couldn’t apply after a couple of years. No thank you. AS IF I would need to go back to a place where my diligence, care, skill and professionalism were taken for granted, or even more so, were thought of as reasons to relinquish our relationship. No thank you.
I write today as a continuation of the process of true freedom. Freedom from the thought that your workplace has anything to do with your identity, value, talent or impact on this world. Freedom from folks who Clearly don’t get who I am or what I brought there. Freedom from the “Chick Energy” that is pervasive amongst the group that I immediately worked with, and allowed to continue long after my dismissal.
Good riddance, and good luck with all that. I’m on to my next lesson.
It's a Process 