The first day of the rest of your life

I have heard this saying many times. People taking a positive outlook on the future after a setback of sizable magnitude. To me, this was a just a saying. That is, until Wednesday. I had the day off, when I received a phone call that the office that I worked in was being shut down. Less than 24 hours following that call, I was driving home from the office with my box of personal items, my "package" (ironically enough it had a pink sticker on the front), and my thoughts.

This is a very humbling experience. Since college, I have also been employed. I started working less than 10 days after receiving my degree. I have not missed more than 7 days (for the Christmas holiday) straight in 9 years. There are quite a few emotions that this experience draws up. I have chosen to focus on the positive.

In the 2nd post on this blog dated January 31, 2010, I said the following:

"The corporate culture today is that the company will do what is best for the stockholders, not its hard working foot solders. Is this wrong? No. The company is in business to make money. However, we as employees, still have this generation old concept that the company cares about us as individuals. This is simply not true.

I call on all cubicle slaves to free yourselves of the chains that you have allowed the company and society to place on you. At the end of the day, the only one who can comfort you at night is you!
"

I still believe this. Was it wrong for the company to close the office and let 250 employees go? No. The company has to make these tough decisions.

For the foreseeable future, I will be using this blog to give you an inside look of life after a corporate layoff. I hope that this will be motivating and encouraging to those of you that may be facing these same challenges.


So, what do you do on the first day out of the office? Easy! You get moving. Motion creates emotion. I woke up at 6:20am, took the baby girl to daycare, swam 1200 yards, and began checking off the rest of the tasks on my self-created list for today. Just because you are not at an office, doesn't mean you don't have a job. Hey, life is calling, it is time to answer!