I’ve lost several jobs, but the one that rocked my boat more than any other was when I left a job that I dearly loved and worked the hardest I ever worked in my life for. I left the job because the company was bought out by another company, and people and things were changing faster than I liked.
But when I left that job, I left behind that identity. I had built that company form zero sales to over 20 million dollars a year in sales in only three years. I was a very successful sales manager. It was a product that I loved and was very passionate about. I basically made it my life for those three years and when I left, all I had was a void, a big hole.
It really doesn’t matter that I wasn’t let go; that I made the decision to leave the job. The point is that the job I identified myself with was gone.
Fortunately, I had others in my life that helped remind me that “when one door closes, another opens” and that there would be other jobs for me.
What I noticed was how quickly I let my passion drive me so deep into the job and how I lost sight of what was my most important part of my life, my spiritual welfare.
Luckily, during that period of my life, almost everything else was going well…at least on the outside. I had a well-paying job that I loved and they loved me. I had purchased my first home. I was able to afford private schooling for my kids. I had a brand new car (the newest Volvo on the market). I was beginning to put together a retirement plan and more. My marriage was showing signs of deterioration, but that had been happening for a while, even before this new job.
What I had put on the back burner was what helped me get where I was: my spiritual life. It was alarming how quickly that was pushed aside and forgotten. But I did forget and, because of that, when I left that job I was lost for a while.
What that looked like was a loss of my confidence at my new job. My honesty wasn’t at the standard I was used too (I wasn’t putting in the time I said I was putting into my job), I didn’t care as much as I did with the other job. This was all understandable, but I also began to get a sense of resentment concerning my old job.
The resentment was what brought me back to my spiritual practice. I wasn’t comfortable with having things rattle around my head for long periods of time or having displaced anger come out because of the resentment.
Today, I know the most important aspect of my day is my prayer, meditation and reading. I won’t allow anything to get in the way of one or all of those things. That is what anchors me. Everything else is secondary. Now I know that might not work for others, but, believe me, we can all take a few minutes each morning to say “Good Morning” to God or we’ll eventually being saying “Good God, its morning.” The choice is ours.
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