You've been eliminated - Good Bye!

Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to meeeeee!
Happy birthday to me!

(I know, I know - strange title for a birthday blog post. Keep reading!)

Yes, today is the day I celebrate year #36. Although truthfully, the celebration is quite muted this year. Some of you already know this, but others will learn of this for the first time here. You see, a week ago, I learned that my former employer could no longer see the usefulness of my abilities at their company so they "consolidated and reorganized" and my position was "eliminated due to business necessity."

It was sucker punch to the kidneys, for sure, but I haven't been too emotional about it. Some will say, "it just hasn't sunk in yet" or "wait until you can't find another job - being turned down over and over again will get old quick." But I choose not to listen to all you glass is half empty folks. I'm a positive guy. Your bellyaching bothers me. :)

Instead, I will focus on the positive - so this is my way of getting rid of the negative.

For the past 10 1/2 years, I've worked for an insurance company. There were some "accolades" and there were some "you need to do betters." But I've come to a realization over the past week. Each day I went to work, I didn't really care. I went to work, completed some tasks, and then came home. There was rarely any passion for doing the work I did. The money was fine and it paid the bills. There were some funny stories and some stories that would make your head spin. But that's it....nothing life-changing about the work.

What I will miss is the relationships. I had a great manager. I had a couple guys I hung out with that I really liked. And I got to hang out with professional attorneys, (yes that's a positive for me). I learned how to interact with people on many different levels.

That's it, so here's my epiphany.

It doesn't matter what we do or even if we like it. What we remember is the relationships we build along the way.

This is going to sound strange, but I sort of like ending my job this way. I can dislike the "administrative people" who made this decision because I don't care about them like they don't care about me. Whoever made this decision doesn't know me or my family, and I don't know them. They were just watching the bottom line. The people I do care about were upset over this decision and that shows me how valuable I am to them...as a person.

So whatever God has for me next (and I WILL remember that God is in control of this situation - and if I get discouraged, I will count on each of you to remind of this fact), I welcome it with an open mind and an open heart. I don't know whether that will be in insurance or some other line of work. What I do know is that I get a chance to keep the relationships I've built at my prior workplace, and now I get to meet new people with the opportunity to build new relationships in the future. The way I see it, no one gets unfriended on Facebook and I'll eventually get to add more friends to my friends list.

Happy birthday to me, indeed.