FIRED! Next, What Is the Story You Tell the World and Yourself

 Scroll through professional networks such as Reddit Jobs and threads pop up like this one about the trauma of being fired. You bet, it is a trauma. And anyone who piles on you the platitude that it's an opportunity shoud be told off. If it is an opportunity you have had to crawl naked through broken glass to get to it.

But the reality is that it is necessary to move on. After all, you have to continue to earn a living. Solid guidance on how to do that and more comes from the 2021 book  "Tarot for Growth" by Jessica Dore. 

In Dore's interpretation of the Tarot's Five of Swords you have a choice in how you tell yourself and the world the "story" about that latest development in your professional life. We are the stories we tell.

The card depicts a person in transition holding and surrounded by swords. In the Tarot the swords symbolize many things. Two of them are intellectual processes and, within them, rigidity of the categories. The message: Be aware of how you are doing your best thinking. 

A firing, like all crises, can trigger those moments of clarity. If they happen you have a new set of filters to sort out what is. As Dore notes, the story you create could be "I failed" or "This is what I tried and learned." 

In 1982, I got the ax at a small old-line corporation. Through a marathon session with a wise guide in a 12-step program that very night of the firing I got it: What a bad fit that had been for me. No, I didn't position that as an opportunity. After all a recession was roaring and, yes, a firing can undo us. 

Not burdened with the baggage of failure, in three months I landed a job which paid $20k more. But pain is still pain and being fired had certainly been painful. Also I had to relocate across country. Yes, it had been like crawling through broken glass.

Takeaway: We can be positive about the negative without having to eat cliches. One more thing: Never deny pain. 

You may need to change jobs, careers, or from being a worker to entrepreneurship. You are not alone. So many are at a crossroads. Complimentary consultation for coaching, job-search materials, and interviewing. The menu of services includes Tarot readings, both spreads and one-card pulls. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com or text 203-468-8579.