What is the lesson for me? This is what I ask myself when something is happening in my life that I don’t understand. When you are going down one path and all of a sudden, plans go awry. Do you move with the rhythm of the world or go against the current?
One year ago I was in my dream job that I jumped through hoops for. I completed psychometric tests, multiple rounds of interviews and phone interviews. I thought I was pretty cool when I landed the job after a 5 stage interview process and blasted it out loud on all of my social media channels. Remind me not to do that again because it was awkward later saying – ‘Hey guys, just lost my job’. Haha life eh… Expectation and reality did not match and I was pretty miserable this time a year ago.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and the signs were there for me to make a move and call it quits. But, I was hell bent on seeing it through because it was a role I had worked so damn hard for and studied for. Nevermind the culture which was not a fit for me. 3 months later the business restructured and yours truly was out of a job. I was naturally upset. More rejected than anything but looking back, it was definitely a great turn of events that forced my hand.
The lesson I learned was to listen to my intuition! If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. I used logic and reason to stay on in a toxic environment that very nearly cost me my mental health. As they say, if it costs you your peace of mind, it’s too expensive.
The plus side was that losing my job made me run hard towards my yoga teaching assignments, yoga practice, volunteering, my family, travel, gym, my friends…to what made me happy. I reassessed and reset. I spent days lying on my living room floor thinking ‘WTF just happened?’…but then I got back up and walked around and felt held, loved, safe, cared for and incredibly supported by the people around me and my people in PNG, Indonesia, Canada and U.S. I knew it would all be OK in the end. And it was.
I lost my job 3 days after a meditation module at yoga teacher training. Divine timing because I started using this newfound knowledge and applied it straight away to my life! Lol.
I found a dream role in the non-profit sector and domestic violence services which I am passionate about. I have become a yoga teacher and am teaching! I continue to volunteer raising awareness about mental health and feel like I am finally arriving in my skin compared to 1 year ago. Sometimes you have to go through times that you don’t understand…to get to a place where you can see clearly and understand.
There is a lesson in every situation and I remain a hopeless romantic and believer in divine timing, good people and the beauty of this world.
Picture: Turtle Bay, Hawaii! What a gorgeous part of this world.