When I got fired from my job in June, it pretty much knocked
me flat. Not only had this been a job, it had been a calling. Add to that the betrayal by people I'd thought were my friends.
My true friends rushed in to lift me, like emotional EMTs.
Amy said, “You haven’t lost anything. I know you will find
the medicine in this poison.”
Dani said, "You’ll get through this, and I will help you.”
Erin said, “Fuck them. I’ll be right over with wine and
take-out,” which at the time were my favorite words.
My facebook inbox lit up like a Christmas tree as my friends
across the country got wind of the news. They said, “We love you. We’ve got
your back. Nothing can erase all the good work you did.”
A few days later I talked with my friend Julie, and she
said, “They haven’t knocked you down. They have elevated you.”
“Elevated me? How?”
“Because I know you. You will find the good in it. You’ll
write about it, and you’ll share your story with others. In the end you will be
stronger because of it. You will rise above this, and that’s how they have
elevated you.”
Of course, I hadn’t thought of it like that.
Author and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson says that
when someone deflects a miracle from you, when they block goodness that is
meant for you, the Universe will hold the miracle in trust, and will
find another way to make sure you receive it. It may come from another person or
a different job, or another door will open that you never knew existed.
In other words, when someone tries to knock you down, you
should really thank them for teaching you courage and strength, and also for
teaching you who you don’t want to be, because in the meantime, all the good things that are your due are still on their way.
No one can really ever take anything from you. It’s up to
each of us to lay down in defeat, or to elevate.
I choose to elevate.
