by Mark Butler

Created on: July 30, 2009   Last Updated: August 01, 2009

When I was called up to the conference room at my last job I knew my next steps would be out the front door of the place where I worked. That was how my company did things. They waited until the end of the day and called the next person up to the conference room to tell them it was their last day working there. Knowing it gave me a strange feeling but fear and negative thoughts were not a part of it. Instead, I was strangely kind of glad. While I had been good at what I did and I had saved the company a lot of money, I also knew it was not the job for me and I'd already begun to look elsewhere.

The next few days were filled with visits to the unemployment office and the local veteran's affairs office and I kept hearing the same phrase: When one door closes, another opens. While it may sound cliche, I also found it to be true! Perhaps I should explain.

I'd wanted to go back to school to get an MBA and later a PhD but my working hours were too excessive with commute and work taking up 14-15 hours a day. With that kind of schedule there was no way I could ever get back to school. I also like to write and I've had over 150 essays published by Navy Times and Proceedings of the US Naval Institute but this schedule didn't allow for that at all. Suddenly I was free to do these things but I also had to worry about a budget because of my suddenly reduced cash flow.

In a way getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to my budget! Suddenly I actually had to budget! We modified how we spent our money, trimmed expenses and actually found a way to live within our greatly reduced means whereas before we'd sweated how to save a measly 5 percent of my pay via a 401K.

After a six month period of unemployment, during which I exercised daily, worked on home improvement projects, spent time with my grandchildren and enjoyed special time with my wife of 29 years. Needless to say, my blood pressure had come way down, I'd lost some weight and I felt good about myself for the first time since I'd left the Navy after a 30 year career riding ships at sea.

Now I'm employed by a federal agency as part of the Presidential Management Fellows program and I work 8 hours a day. I don't get phone calls at all hours of the night and on weekends. I've also picked up a part-time on-line teaching job, found time to write and finished my MBA. I'll start my PhD in the fall and while I'm busy, I'm also at peace with myself and with life.

While I can't change the past, I now realize that I took that old job for all the wrong reasons. Getting fired was one of the best things to happen to me in my post-Navy career. It has led to my being truly happy. Things happen for a reason, and as long as you can find the positive in a situation, and let yourself relax enough to find the new door that is opening, you can always find the positive and move on to a brighter future.

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