“I’m going to do you a favor…YOU’RE FIRED!”

So there I was sitting across the table from my friend I had known for years. He had just recently been hired to manage the video production department for the company where I had been working for 2 years. Our department had always been fairly self-managed, since everyone knew their job and we always had a ton of work to do. But the company had decided to make cuts…deep ones. They had missed a few bigger sure-thing opportunities and rolled the dice for even better success and now they were struggling – BIG TIME. So my friend was brought in to re-organize the department, which is code for: “Cut jobs and come up with an exit plan.”

Smugly, I sat in the same chair dreaded by all the previous people who had come to the office and been given walking papers. As far as I could see, I was the ONE person they needed most. Without me and the role I served, there was no way they would be able to go on. Forget the fact that outside in the main area, the whole team was gathered in a far corner whispering and shaking their heads, as one-by-one people were asked to come to the office and left either in tears or red-faced with anger. Surely, when it was my turn to sit in the chair, my friend would tell me he was just going to make it look like he was doing his diligence by having me come to his office, then chat with me about something else. I was SO SURE there was no way I would be let go. With a slight smile on his face (the mirror-image of crocodile tears), he said “I’m going to do you the best favor I could ever do. You’re fired.”

There was a loud crack, the Earth stopped spinning, and my eyes became like marbles in a stuffed raccoon. I thought (for about .0002 seconds) that he was joking. Clearly, he was not. Since it was obvious I did not have a response in my head or on my tongue, he continued. “I’m not telling other people this, but I will give you two weeks notice so you can go find another job”

Gee, thanks.

Then the real eye-opening and brutal truth began to unfold. My now EX-friend began to tell me how I was killing myself by staying here. I had far more potential at better jobs but couldn’t see that. It was true. I had indeed become embedded in the all-too-dangerous and deadly COMFORT ZONE. My bills were getting paid, I knew what to do day-to-day, I knew what to expect, I knew what to avoid and who to trust and who to suck up to etc. etc. The perfect position for NOT HAVING A REASON TO MOVE.

Looking back, what he told me that day was ALL true. But at that moment, the horror of not having a job flattened me like a squished roach on a bathroom floor. He was absolutely right. I didn’t have a single reason to want to move from where I was. Frankly, right then I was pretty furious that he was messing with my mojo. Despite whatever ‘better’ things may have awaited me out there, I was comfortable and didn’t want to do anything to upset the balance I had worked so hard to establish.

So what was my reaction? What ingenious admirable motivation action did I take?…I tried as hard as I could to find the exact same situation somewhere else. I tried as hard as I could to jump right back in to the dead-end I had become complacently accustomed to. As it turned out, I was able to make it through some uncomfortable weeks and ultimately did find another job. And yes, It was a MUCH better job. The equipment I worked on was state-of-the-art, the money was better, the work I was doing was far more interesting and I couldn’t wait to get to work every day. But while I was reacting in fear, anger and confusion, I was unable to see past the immediate desperate situation.

Then something happened after a few days. Feeling numb from head to toe, I took miniature, almost facetious steps,. It was like my movements were guided from muscle memory more than purpose or thought. -But I moved.-  As little as it was, as possibly insignificant it might have been, my present state was something that I could use as a benchmark and move forward. So the next day, I moved a little more and continued to add to my moving each day. “Fake it til you make it’, right?

What is it about us that seeks the ‘familiar’ over the risky yet far better ‘different’? Some people will crawl into a fetal position and go find a dark corner to self-loath letting the opportunity of change pass them by. I have known people who have succumbed to this reaction and fight so hard for the “same” situation…and they eventually found it. Many of them to this day are basically the same person they were when they were pushed from their nest. Not that there is anything ‘wrong’ with finding a comfortable situation, but after getting laid off, fired or whatever the case, may I suggest seeking something, ANYTHING as soon as you can make it happen. Even if the job is NOTHING like what you want for your future, at least you are working and continue to look for the job that lines up with your destiny. If it is Christmastime, wrap gifts in the mall (if there is such thing as a “mall” by the time this publishes) or deliver for UPS/Amazon etc, drive Uber – do SOMETHING to keep yourself busy. You will feel better about yourself and have less down time to let your imagination wreak havoc on your attitude.

Consider this: maybe, just maybe ,God has been working all sorts of miracles and situations to finally get you out of your safe place and in the path of where both you and He want you to be. But then as soon as the miracle happens, you try to get back to the same place you were before. Look at the poor Israelites…for the exchange of food and shelter, they endured torture, beatings and persecution for CENTURIES. They lived in horrible conditions described as “a misery by the harshest oppression” and were under the rule of the heartless godless Pharaoh and kings who saw them as worth less than a mule. Eventually, God allowed Moses to miraculously free them from the situation! With their new freedom, they were on their way to the beautiful, bountiful, dreamy promised land of Canaan God had promised them several generations back.

But what happened when things got tough along the way? When food became hard to come by? They said they wanted to return to the very horror they fled. At least they would have food and a place to sleep. What!? Return to torture and abuse for the exchange of food and security? (We’ve heard this tune several times throughout history…it never turned out well.) So it is with our natural tendency to forgo the possibility of something better for the security of something worse.

Sure, it’s always best when change happens according to our own timing, but sometimes we are pushed in to situations where we have to learn, adapt and grow. When this happens, don’t fight it, don’t belittle it, and for crying out loud, don’t try to go back to where you came out of. Move forward, move up, move on. Don’t look back and don’t look down.