counting my blessings

Cruising one of my new favorite sites (crazysexylife.com) this morning and today's post spoke to me.  Kris describes tackling a challenge then once inking the check mark as accomplished, moving on to the next one without savoring the achievement.  You can read the whole post here if you'd like.  I'm responding to this part:

Notice what ya got soul sister. In fact, do this with me, notice one thing RIGHT NOW. Sit, close your eyes, take a deep breath and acknowledge the one positive thing in your life, something that has shifted towards the light.

Just a few months ago I was in a high stress, high pressure job. 
I was responsible for 12 underpaid people and most of the time that meant protecting them from the unrealistic expectations of those above me to the best of my ability.  I was working 60, 70, 80 hours a week, smoking, drinking too much, eating fast and processed food all the time and feeling lousy.

Mid-October, I was fired.  I should have seen the writing on the wall long before that, but I'm not the quitting type and I knew I was doing that job to the very best of my ability given the circumstances. 

I spent the first week fighting back a bit.  They'd moved me 700 miles away from home only 2 years before, and now they were firing me:  not trying to help me find something else within the company, not offering me any severance for the years I had given it my all, not saying so much as thank you, but we would like to change the structure your department reports to and there isn't a place there for you.  No.  Instead, they were taking 5 years of exemplary work as noted on every yearly performance review, giving me a 30 day Performance Improvement Plan, and firing me when I couldn't add another 20 hours a week to meet it's unattainable goals.  I was pretty pissed.

Then I spent the next week depressed.  Oh, yeah, pretty depressed.  Smoking a pack a day, drinking a bottle of wine, and eating comfort carbs like crazy.
The third week is when it happened.  It all clicked.  I had been spending so much time being stressed and sick and unhappy that I hadn't had time to realize how stressed and sick and unhappy I was. 

I didn't think I'd say it when it happened, but getting fired was the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time.  Once I realized that, blessings started raining down on me like crazy!
I found a new job, a great job.  I work from home, in my pj's mostly, doing what I do best--solving problems and helping people. 

I quit smoking, just like that.  Well, I used the patch for about a month, but I didn't have the psychological cravings that I'd had each time before.  I didn't want to smoke anymore.  That was huge.

I found the love in my life that's been right there all along, if only I would jump.

Next stop:  healthy new me.