It was about 1:30pm, New Years Eve, and a couple of days before I was gleaming after selling a $10,000.00  telephoto lens to my orthopedic surgeons, thinking that this was going to be a feather in my hat, and good to realize that it didn’t mean anything. You see, I was greeted my HR head, and instead of expecting a happy new years greeting, it was a pink slip after being with the for some nineteen years at Calumet Photographic, and four decades in photo retail. I was stunned and started wondering what am I going to say to my wife. For me having cerebral palsy and my wife stricken with polio at the age of six, I felt so guilty of never making very much money, but because of my physical condition I needed good hospital insurance to cover my many hip replacements,  and now I have to tell her was an ass hole she married.   I am not going to bother with you what the president of the company reason was, I just took the severance package they offered me. I think they thought I was going to sue for discrimination, at sixty five years old and maybe a year early to take full social security, I figured the time was right to start my new journey.

Luckily I have been blessed  with an understanding wife. She always thought making the long drive to Chicago from the southwest suburbs was a torture for anyone, yet someone like myself. I was battered and certainly disappointed, but it could of been a lot worse. I am not writing this blog for you to not to feel sorry for me, but for those who that might also have gotten Fired today.

Here are some of the things that I learned from my dismissal and I hope others who suffer their recent firings might want to share.

A) As they say in the Boy Scouts, “Be Prepared.” As one friend once said to me, if your employer didn’t have to pay you, he or she wouldn’t.

B) Don’t expect any of your friends at the company to help you. Once you are fired, you are off limits. Leave them alone, they are probably more scared about their employments.

C) Don’t burn bridges, you never know who you might need for your next round of employment.

D) Start your game plan immediately, the financial clock is ticking and your bill collectors really don’t give a shit about you getting fired.

E) Start realizing that you are not as valuable that you thought you are. The word “Has Been” does not need any explanation.

F) Determine how much money you need each month to pay your bills

G) Don’t skimp on health care, take any job to get proper health care.

H) Start networking on social media, I am so grateful to be featured on Linkedln. It’s the earth’s working world. It introduced to the real world.

I) Here is is one thing that I learned the hard way, do not work on speculation, if someone promises you the big bucks if they and you succeed, most likely it will never happen, and please stop beating a dead horse. The name of the game is money.

J) Look at your investment accounts, and start realizing that you probably could of doing a lot better than what the company had to to offer, a two per-cent match will not mean anything. Start doing your own financial management.

K) Don’t waste your time a job fairs, or all those online recruiters. Decide where you want to work and pursue it.

L) Get hungry, pissed off, and decide that you are entitled to get rich too, and it means that you have to stop buying lotto tickets.

M) Don’t be afraid to reach out to successful people, you never know  what you might discover.

N) Be grateful that you have an understanding partner. Once you no longer in the job force, you are now labeled as a “Loser”.

O) Be grateful, for what you have, your health, your mind and sprituality. Being in photo retail, I never realize that I was wasting my life, I hardly ever asked myself “why am I doing this job?”

P) Start discovering the world. I am so fortunate to discover the likes of www.audible.com and www.scribd.com. I am able to listen to the Wall Street Journal every day, and listen to many of the New York Times Best Sellers.

Q) Accept the reality of death, and define it that it is your whole process. Be proud to be part of it.

R) Shoot for the Moon, You now have the chance to the someone you never thought you never knew you could be. It is NOW possible to have an idea that can change the world, a song that constantly being played on the radio, or owning that one domain name that can sell for millions.

S) You are a new person, and you have someone else that just entered your life, look in the mirror and say hello to the person you never knew.

T) Take the time to get those medical check-ups, as you get older, the more pills you will have to swallow.

U) Start a daily journal, it’s hard to believe that I will be starting my sixth volume, and oh yeah, please print, Scribbling is not a written language.

W) They say time heals all wounds, it doesn’t.

Y) Stop beating yourself up. You did not do anything wrong. It’s only a job, and will always be considered a job.

Z) Know when to call it quits, you are retired and un-emplyable, think about where you want to spend your remaining years, and where you want your remains to be buried or scattered.

So to all those who will be hitting the unemployment pavings, I wish you much success, you are not alone, and hopefully you will reflect on it as one of your greatest accomplishments.

I am looking forward in hearing what you have to say about your new journeys, and have a Happy New Year(2017).