Alright folks, let me tell you about a time when ‘The Tower’ card didn’t just appear in a reading; it pretty much dropped right on my head. You know the one, that big, dramatic card, lightning striking, everything falling apart. Yeah, I lived that. And honestly, it sucked big time. But here’s how I tried to wrestle with it.
It all started a few years back. Things were going… fine. Not amazing, not terrible, just humming along. I was in a job I’d been at for ages, comfortable, knew the ropes. My routine was set, my life pretty much on autopilot. I thought I had it all figured out, you know? Like, this is it, this is my track. Then, BAM. Out of nowhere, without a single warning, my whole department got wiped out. Mass layoffs. Just like that. One morning, walked in, walked out with a box of my stuff. My boss, who I thought was a decent guy, couldn’t even look me in the eye. That’s ‘The Tower’ for ya.
First, the shock hit hard. I remember just standing in the parking lot, staring at my car, holding that box. What the hell just happened? My mind was blank, then racing, then blank again. It felt like someone had pulled the rug right out from under me, and then the whole floor had just collapsed. I drove home, numb. Told my wife, and she was as stunned as I was. We had plans, you know? Mortgage, bills, kids’ college funds looming. All that stability, just… gone. Overnight. It was truly disorienting, like walking into a room you know well, only to find all the furniture rearranged or just missing.
Then came the scramble. The first few days were a blur of anger, frustration, and just plain fear. I mean, what do you do? I’d been doing the same thing for so long, the thought of starting fresh was terrifying. I started just by trying to get my head straight.
- I took a couple of days to just… exist. Didn’t look at job boards, didn’t update my resume. Just let myself feel the crappiness of it.
- Talked it out with my wife, with a couple of close buddies. Vented. Yelled a bit. Got some of that initial poison out.
- Started thinking, really thinking, about what I actually wanted. Not just what I was used to. This was the forced reset button, right? Might as well use it.
Next, I started picking up the pieces. It wasn’t pretty. I dusted off my old resume, which looked ancient. Tried to remember what my actual skills were, not just the ones I used day-to-day. It was a painstaking process, trying to translate years of experience into something relevant for a whole new world. I spent hours online, wading through job descriptions that all sounded the same, felt like a robot trying to fit into a human world. It felt like I was back in high school trying to figure out what to do with my life, only now with way more responsibilities and a whole lot less hair.
I reached out to old colleagues, people I hadn’t spoken to in years. Some were helpful, some were… less so. Got some leads, got a lot of dead ends. Every rejection felt like another little blow, a reminder of that initial ‘Tower’ moment. It was demoralizing, to say the least. There were days I just wanted to throw my laptop across the room and give up, go dig ditches or something. But then I’d look at my family, and I knew I couldn’t. Couldn’t just roll over and let this thing beat me.
The real shift happened when I stopped looking for “the same thing” and started looking for “a better thing.” I knew deep down that my old job wasn’t exactly my passion. It was comfort. This forced disruption, as painful as it was, pushed me to actually consider what I might enjoy doing, what new skills I could pick up. I started taking a few online courses, just dabbling in different areas, seeing what sparked any kind of interest. Felt a bit silly, being my age and going back to “school,” but what the hell did I have to lose at that point?
It didn’t happen overnight, not at all. It was a slow, grinding process. There were moments of doubt, moments of wanting to just give in. But slowly, gradually, new doors started to crack open. I found a role that was completely different from my old one, something I never would have even considered before. It was challenging, exciting, and forced me to learn a ton of new stuff. It wasn’t perfectly smooth sailing getting there, but once I landed, I realized something important.
That ‘Tower’ moment, as brutal and unexpected as it was, wasn’t the end. It was truly just… a really messy beginning. It ripped away everything I thought I wanted or needed, only to clear the way for something I actually did. It was a hard lesson, but one I wouldn’t trade now, looking back. It taught me that sometimes, you gotta let everything burn down before you can start building something better.
