From Fired to Engaged and Finding a Path of Truth

A few years ago, I was painfully let go from a job.  For this position, I was overqualified and underpaid to say the least.  Most of the women there were- and still are.  Anyway, I loved the children I worked with and most of the co-teachers.  The majority of women there were kind and understanding.  I had mentioned finding another job to my friend teachers to get away from the certain few toxic women, but I could not bear to leave the kids.  I wanted to wait until the end of the school year before I proudly turned my two-week notice in.

The management team beat me to the punch.  I was called in the office and told I had been “too rough with the children and could not work there anymore.”  Um, what?  SERIOUSLY?!  The teacher that is known for “babying” everyone and holding the kids too much is let go?!  Yep.  I left work that morning for the last time.  I couldn’t even say bye to the babies I had seen grow for years or to the teachers I bared my soul to as friends.  Devastated, shocked, hurt, and confused, I called my mom and John on the way back to my apartment.  John thought I was joking, and I’m pretty sure my mom’s response was in fact,”You’re kidding.”

Sadly, I was not.  I cried for days after that.  Tears were not shed because I got let go; that job was not for me, and I should have quit anyway.  I cried because I missed the babies.  I was embarrassed and perplexed.  I did nothing wrong.  There was no opportunity to explain to their parents how I didn’t abandon them by choice.  I texted one of the children’s parents, so she would know what was up.  She was just as shocked as everyone.  There is no doubt in my mind the people who worked with me, allowed me to care for their children, and anyone who really knows me defended these preposterous accusations against my name.  But I still missed everyone, wanted to talk to them and defend myself, and I was unemployed.

During my month of unemployment, I dove into more into yoga and spent a lot of time outdoors.  Instead of yoga inside, I would go to the park, to a class, or on a walk with “yoga breaks.”  I took Sarah Belle on so many walks, I searched for jobs eventually, and I found a regular yoga practice.  I ended up finding a nanny position for a year, and that was also very eye-opening to my career desires.

Later that same year, John and I went on a beautiful adventure to Prague, Vienna, and Florence.  We ended the vacation in the best place of all, Florence, with a surprise proposal (I wrote a blog about is a while back! Swooon)!  I lived in Florence for 5 months and traveled to Prague before, but everything was different with John.  Everything was more magical!  The following months were consumed with wedding planning but also preparing for yoga teacher training.  Having a regular yoga practice helped me see how this is what I wanted to do: share love and creativity with teaching yoga.

A year and a half after I was wrongly fired, I was happily engaged and obsessed with my new career intentions.  I was going to be a yoga teacher!  I absolutely LOVED my yoga teacher training!!  In the future, I will write about it and how much it truly changed my life.  Finally, I felt like I was on the right path.  Almost immediately following my training, I found places to teach and felt very welcome in the Nashville yoga community.  My purpose in this world was becoming more apparent to me.  My career was not an occupation, but a passion.

 

The other day I was thinking about it all…

I got fired in April, watched two of my best friends and my sister get married in the following months, went to Europe, AND got engaged to my sweet John all within the same year.  What started as a rocky, insecure, and painful year ended with happiness and freedom.  Everything makes sense now.  If they didn’t let me go, would I still be there?  Stuck, unhealthy, and unhappy?

It has taken a very long time for me to think about that situation, but now I see the light.  It all led me right Here, exactly where I want to be.  I am happy.  I enjoy my “work” and am passionate about what I do for a living.  I FEEL like myself – free.  And in a weird way, I am very thankful for being let go.

“Let-go” is also another way to say surrender, and that is not a bad thing at all 🙂

 

All is happening in Divine timing,

xoxxooommm,

Sarie