I remember going through my emails at work and seeing an email from HR. As I started to read the email my heart sunk. I got a notice that I was going to be furloughed for four weeks and that after that time my position will be evaluated. But the last line that said it would be reevaluated hit me the most.

Questions started to run through my head.

‘’Did I do enough during my time their to show that I am a asset to the company?’’

‘’What if they find someone older and more qualified?’’

As the questions started to stir in my head I realized I had two options. Option A I could fall into a victim mentality and fall into a depression and stress about my job and whether or not I would get it back. Or Option B I can start the creative project I have always wanted to start. I can finally create the podcast I have been saying I would do when the time. But, I really just pushed it off because I was worried about what others would think.

I decided to go with Option B. I started DMing people like crazy thinking everyone would say no. To my surprise so many people said yes. I overbooked myself and did three to four interviews a day. My furlough ended up lasting 10 weeks and I maximized every moment of it. 

Their is a quote I really love by Ed Mylett. He says ‘’ The instant you accept responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you acquire the power to change it.’’

It would have been easy for me to eat oreos and wine about woe is me and sit in  the disappointment. But, I quickly realized that if I did not really use the time that I would have regretted it later on. The universe gives us time to pause because we need to pause. When we are running so fast all the time we tend to forget what it is that we truly want. Do we really want this job or relationship we are in? Or is it convenient and comfortable. 

Being furloughed is the best thing that could have happened to me. Even though it felt like the worse thing at first. I had a rental contract that I had to break because I had no idea how I would pay for my rent. It felt like the rug was pulled out from beneath me and there was nothing I could do but just let it happen. I felt like I had failed because I was no longer employed. I struggled with the thoughts of am I still valuable if I am not making money. Yet through this experience I realize how much I really appreciated just having a job I don’t think I ever really appreciated before. 

It was almost as if I forgot all the other things I loved when I poured my all into my job. I wanted to do well. Prove that my age would not be an issue. I was almost overcompensating because of fear at the beginning. There is nothing wrong with pouring a ton of your energy into your job. Just pour energy back into yourself too. Don’t neglect your own creative projects. Have things that you do just for you even if you do not make money on them at the beginning. 

Since April, I have interviewed over eighty people from all different walks of life. I interview a variety of people from a singer, multi seven figure entrepreneurs, a wedding planner who went viral on Tiktok, to a real estate investor who retired a 27 years old and makes over five figures a month on passive income.If there would be one universal theme throughout my interviews it would be everything is happening for you even if it is not aligned to your own person timeline.