I’ve become a redundancy.

Yes, you’ve read correctly. I’ve become a redundancy. Well, it wasn’t the way she phrased it, but the message was there. Even though I had excelled at my role, the organization determined they could cut costs by eliminating my position. We had some form of a, “It’s not you, it’s us” discussion and decided to part ways as “friends”.

It wasn’t a surprise. It had been a tough road ever since I joined the company. Perhaps the toughest I’ve ever faced in my career. I was in a program that had lost money for several years. My job was to turn it around and make it profitable.

I did.

Then… there I was, a redundancy. The company outsources my role. Sometimes, that’s the way things go.

This is, in some ways, an oversimplification of the struggles that I had in the role. Any more discussion of it, and it turns into a gripe session. Instead of trying to justify my side, all I can say is I think it was all for the best.

There is a moment of relief when things aren’t working out, and someone is finally brave enough to call it off. It’s like a moment of silence, but instead of pain and emotion, you can feel all of your muscles relax. It just feels…right.

I sighed. Sometimes, that’s the way things go.

I’ve never been good at endings, even though I love beginnings. Instead, I’ve come to accept them as a necessary evil to birth new possibilities. So now I start with a clean slate of infinite options. As an overweight, 42-year-old, “infinite options” may not exactly be the correct term, but I’ll ride this until life proves to me otherwise.

The road is long, and I am weary. I am worn from the drama, the politics, and the struggle (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). Yet the sun peeks out from the horizon. It is a reminder that tomorrow is a new day.

Just as life is complicated and full of struggle, it is warmth and happiness, and love.

It is what it is. Whatever it is, I look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

— the redundant wanderer