“The boss needs to see you in his office right now” aren’t exactly the words you want to hear on a Friday morning. Or ever. But they’re the words my coworker said to me that day in August, 1997.
I was nineteen years old and working as an on-air disc jockey at a rock station in north Florida. I had wanted to be on the radio since I was eight years old. My dream was to get on-the-air at my hometown rock station in Orlando, but this first job in Gainesville was fun and great experience for me. I just knew that somehow, working there would pave a way to getting on-the-air in Orlando.
I had only been at the station for three months, but during that time I had hustled every single day. In addition to my 10am-12pm shift, I helped out the morning show from 6a-10a and I did overnights from midnight to 6am. Twelve hour days aren’t that bad when you’re doing what you love.
As I walked down to Gus’s office, my heart pounded. I could feel it beating all the way in my throat. I walked in, closed the door behind me, and walked out a minute later.
He was quick with his words. I wasn’t a good fit for the station and was shown to the door.
I had been fired.
I made my way to the radio station’s restroom without running into anybody, locked the door behind me, and sat down. Tears welled up. Not only had I been fired, I had also been set up.
What I didn’t mention earlier was that another DJ at the station was jealous of my success and was determined to stop me. He came up with a brilliant scheme to get me pushed out of a job that I loved – and it worked. I remember being heartbroken that someone could be so evil to get a hard-working employee with a big dream fired but even more so that my boss didn’t have my back.
What’s sad is that I’m not alone. This scenario plays out with many different people in many different ways every single day. A dream job today can quickly turn into a nightmare tomorrow.
But the lesson I learned from being fired from my dream job was this: When someone tells you what you’re not, you have to remember who you are. And remember Whose you are, too.
While that’s always stuck with me, it’s easy to forget.
You’re told you’re not a good speaker when you know you’re better than you used to be.
You’re told you’re not cut out for the job when your ratings clearly show that you are.
Although I had all of the stats proving my worth, I still couldn’t convince my program director not to fire me that day. It was too late. He had already been convinced otherwise by someone else.
I was devastated. In that moment, I almost gave up on my dream. That would have been easier.
But within a week I got hired on-the-air at two big name stations. Although I lost one job, God gave me two. Six months later, I was offered a job on-the-air at my hometown rock station in Orlando.
My real dream job.
Almost 20 years later, I still look back on the whole thing with amazement.
The job I lost in the end really ended up being the very thing holding me back from becoming who I was meant to be. Sometimes when you’re going through a tough season, it’s hard to see how things will work out. But if you have faith and remember who and Whose you are, they always do.