Fired up

"To attend work one morning only to be blindsided by a firing by the afternoon can be painful like losing a loved one. This is because in America what we do for a living is often intimately tied to who we are. When someone you meet asks, 'So, what do you do for a living?' how do you answer? But like any other major crisis, being terminated can be the defining moment that actually launches you to your true desinty. Fired up is one person's intimate account that shows in raw honest detail how to climb back after a major fall"--Page 4 of cover. "Fired up is about climbing out of a crisis. This crisis was a job loss, but the process is the same for any trial. After a fifteen-year successful journalism career, I was abruptly fired. It happened just six months after I joined a media company that aggressively recruited me to lead its new Internet publishing division. A shocking termination can be as devastating as any other loss--even losing a loved one--because what we do for a living is often intimately tied to who we are. After being terminated, you will likely go through the various stages of grief, such as denial and anger, before reaching acceptance and hopefully forgiveness. I went through most of the stages and got stuck at anger. I will share the steps I took to cope, recover, and eventually forgive, enabling me to move on. The key to accomplishing this was how God dealt with me throughout the process, particularly through his scriptures. Several times I had read the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis beginning in chapter 37. Joseph and his brothers are the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. But reading the story this time while in the middle of a crisis similar to Joseph's--being wounded by your own people--I came to truly understand the value of embracing the bad things that happen to you in life"--Page xi.