I just got fired 🔥

This is entry #1 in my online journal.

24 hours ago, I was told that I wouldn’t be coming back to company XYZ.

For context, I’m 22 years old and studied Computer Science at an Ivy League School that will also remain unnamed. I graduated last May and two months later, I started working at one of the top tech companies in the U.S. right now. Oh, and I’m also not a U.S. citizen or a native speaker, so please forgive me if anything sounds weird/awkward.

Yesterday’s question:

Have you ever worked your ass off and didn’t achieve what you wanted❓

Since I was little, I’ve always been a really hard-working person. I’ve always looked at my mom and admired what she’s done with her life. She’s the mother of four children that she’s had to support economically and, obviously, emotionally just by herself.

And so, when I arrived to that conference room yesterday and when they said “We are gonna have to let you go”, I was broken into pieces. All I could think of is, I’ve worked so hard to get to that top university, or get the job at this company, but most importantly, I’ve worked so hard to be the best in here and now I’m getting kicked out?

But then I called my mom and told her. She said,

Everything happens for a reason, you just have to be patient enough.

(Wait, read a bit more. I know the quote sounds cliché… I promise you you won’t regret it)

She later explained that 15 years ago, her relationship with my father was going very badly. They were fighting all the time and she was unhappy. She didn’t feel like herself and decided that things had to end. And then, it happened. My parents got divorced. My father walked away and my mom was left alone with four children. She was worried as there was no one that could help her. She was working her ass off every day to be able to provide for her kids, but still wasn’t enough to be able to pay for everything. Months went by and things got worse.

Just when she thought that she might lose her home due to unpaid expenses and mortgage, everything changed. She found an old pharmacy at one of the best locations in a bigger city nearby. Because the pharmacy was old and badly organized, she was able to get a good deal, and miraculously get a loan from one of the banks in the city (it was extremely hard to get a loan at the time as a woman in my country) to buy it. She restored the pharmacy and everything went up from there. The pharmacy became the second biggest in the country. And then she went on to start her own chain of beauty salons and optical stores, in addition to doing a bunch of real estate investments.

From this story, it seems like we should just wait long enough and good things will happen. If this is what you understood from the story, then there’s some truth to that, but you are missing the key piece of information, which I think is the most important:

Everything happens for a reason, you just have to patient enough to look for what the reason was.

That period from when my mom got divorced to when she acquired the new pharmacy, she was constantly looking for new work options. She did not give up. She tried buying another pharmacy (which was much smaller than what she’d find later), or even selling her stake at the pharmacy she shared with my aunt (which would bring her into more debt without ensuring the future of her kids).

In other words, she waited and waited. But while waiting, she worked her ass off, did not give up, fought harder and harder. She tried to learn from past mistakes she had made and try to understand why all this was happening to her. It made her tougher so she could then go on to become a truly successful businesswoman, and not simply a supporting mother.

🍳 Today’s golden egg (aka today’s life lesson)

Heather Kampf in 2008 fell midway through a running race (~ minute 1:00) but still won

Shit happens. Just like my mom getting divorced and not being able to support her kids. Or me losing my job from one day to another just like that. It is now that I have to be ready to fight the problem. I must remember that good stuff is going to happen if I keep working my ass off. It is now that I can’t start giving up. It is now that I have to stay strong.

So I’m gonna buckle up and get ready for the rollercoaster ride. I know I only have 67 days to find a new job that can support my international visa. But it’s also 67 days to find a better job and a happier life and not make the same mistakes again. At least now I know how it feels to get fired.

P.S. it’s kind of fun to be unemployed in NY. You can reflect about stuff and walk around. Also I recommend this app called Headspace if you’ve never tried it. If you are the type of person who is an overachiever and stresses about simple stuff like I do, then you gotta start using it.

Follow me and/or like this article to see what happens over the next two months 😬 💚