My Epiphany

I went out to sushi with a girlfriend the other day. She was recently laid off due to her company "scaling down" (who isn't scared of that these days?) and was up in Boulder for an interview. 

Allow me to set the stage: This girl is the most on-top-of-her-game planner I've ever known. I'm guessing that she had her 10-year plan calculated out by the time she was 8 and could rattle off her list of experiences and qualifications at the same time she learned to rattle off her alphabet. 

I've known her while she was at this past company - during which time she got married and started getting excited to have kids. She stopped herself from being excited though because the company didn't have a great maternity plan or great insurance overall for the first several years of hire, plus she wanted to save up more money, etc. before starting a family so her kids could live more comfortably. So she looked forward to the day when she could truly do what she wanted to do and trudged through the daily mud this company brought into her life in the meantime. 

But here's the shocker - She was a completely different person when I had lunch with her this past week. I've never seen somebody in such a potentially depressing situation look so bright. She explained to me how it all of a sudden hit her when she was forced to quit that job that her priorities were off. That job was holding her back from doing what she truly wanted to do in life. She realized that things can change in a heartbeat and that 10-year plans never turn out how we intend them to. (that's what I call "God's sense of humor") 

So what if she didn't have the money to buy the Lexus of baby cribs? So what if her next job wasn't going to make her the queen of everything? She was ready to enjoy day to day, which she hadn't experienced once at this past company. 

It was inspirational to hear - how many things in our own lives are we doing because we feel like we should be doing them? and how many of those things are actually holding us back from doing what we really want to be doing? And what will it take to get us to re-prioritize? It shouldn't have to be as drastic as losing a job, right? 

Anyway, the real moral is: it's amazing what you can learn over sushi.