Life has never stopped surprising me.
Two weeks before my sixtieth birthday, I was called into a last-minute Zoom meeting.
My direct supervisor was there.
The Human Resources manager was there.
There was another man I didn't recognize.
Before anyone spoke, I knew this wasn't going to be a routine meeting.
The federal government had changed Canada's immigration policy, and almost overnight, the number of international students enrolling in our program had dropped.
Without students, there was no program to teach.
My contract as a college instructor would end in October and would not be renewed.
It was one of those quiet moments when life changes direction.
I had imagined finishing my career there.
I loved teaching.
I loved watching students from all over the world gain confidence and discover they were capable of more than they believed.
I wasn't looking for another career.
I thought I had already found the place where I would retire.
Apparently, life had other plans.
Oddly enough, my first reaction wasn't panic.
It was disappointment.
There is a difference.
Disappointment comes from losing something you wanted.
Panic comes from believing you'll never be okay again.
I have lived long enough to know those are not the same thing.
Of course, I wondered what would come next.
Would anyone hire a sixty-year-old?
Would I find another job?
Would retirement now look different than I had imagined?
Those were all reasonable questions.
But underneath them was something much steadier.
I knew I would be okay.
Not because I knew what was coming.
Because I had been here before.
Not this exact situation.
But this feeling.
The feeling of standing at the edge of something unknown.
When I look back over my life, almost none of the most important moments happened because everything went according to plan.
My marriage ended.
I closed my business.
I lost people I loved.
Doors closed that I never expected to close.
And every single time, another door eventually opened.
Not always quickly.
Not always in the way I expected.
But always when I needed it.
Losing my job reminded me that my security had never come from an employer.
It came from the skills I had developed.
From my willingness to adapt.
From every difficult experience that had taught me I could begin again.
In the months that followed, life quietly confirmed what I already believed.
I found a beautiful townhome in a community I had wanted to live in for years.
I bought a reliable car before my employment ended.
Employment Insurance carried me through the transition.
My family supported me in ways I will never forget.
Everything I needed arrived when I needed it.
Not always before.
Not always in the way I expected.
But always at the right time.
Looking back, I don't think losing my job taught me how to trust life.
I think it reminded me that I already did.
Everything always works out.
It may not be as we expected.
But often better than we could have imagined.
A thought to take with you
Have you ever faced an unexpected change and wondered how you were going to find your way through it?
What have you already lived through that reminds you you're more capable than you sometimes realize?
Something come to mind?
If you'd like to share it, I'd love to hear what this story made you think about.