Healing After Being Fired: How Silence Became My Starting Point
Updated: Oct 11
One minute, you have a calendar full of meetings. The next, you’re staring at a screen, wondering what your life is supposed to look like now.
On January 15, 2025, that was me.
Healing after being fired didn’t begin with a brilliant business idea or an inspiring announcement. It began with silence, a rescue dog named Mimi, and a walk I didn’t know I needed.
The Day Everything Went Quiet
A last-minute Teams meeting appeared on my calendar.
No subject line. No context. Just an empty invitation and a feeling I didn’t want to acknowledge.
At 2:30 p.m., I clicked “Join.”
Two faces appeared. Then came the sentence:
“Because of policy we are going to have to let you go.”
There was no thank-you. No explanation beyond that sentence. The meeting ended, and I was left with shock, anger, and a suddenly unfamiliar afternoon.
After approximately 14 years working with Epic healthcare systems, I had spent so much time helping other people navigate complicated workflows. Training materials. Job aids. Upgrades. Making confusing information usable.
Now I was facing a change I didn’t have instructions for.
What do you do when work has occupied such a large part of your life—and suddenly, it doesn’t?
I didn’t have an answer that day.
But I was still there, on the other side of the screen, with skills and experience that the meeting hadn’t erased.
I couldn’t quite feel that yet. Still, it was true.
How Mimi Helped Me Begin Healing After Being Fired
The day I was fired, my rescue dog Mimi nudged me toward the door.
She needed a walk. Apparently, so did I.
We walked slowly. My thoughts were a blur, and my chest felt tight. With every step, something inside me softened.
The meeting still happened. I still didn’t know what came next. But for a little while, I had something simple to do: walk with Mimi.
That was manageable.
Looking back, that walk matters because it gave me a starting point when I couldn’t see a direction. I didn’t need to solve my career that afternoon. I needed to get through the afternoon.
If you’re healing after being fired, even ordinary things can feel strangely difficult. A walk, a meal, or a few sentences on paper can give the day a little structure while you figure out the larger questions.
Need somewhere to begin? I created Walk & Reflect: A Mimi Companion for Gentle Momentum, a free, one-page reflection guide inspired by those walks. Use the prompts to put words to what you’re carrying and consider one small next step.
Returning to My Desk With a Different Purpose
Weeks later, I opened my laptop to write.
For that moment, the job listings could wait.
I wrote to myself, to my future, and to the version of me I was trying to find beneath the shock.
Slowly, Kioki Reimagine began taking shape: a space where healing met design, and where I could explore what rebuilding might look like.
My desk became a place to make something again.
I could choose a sentence. Develop an idea. Finish a page. Small decisions, yes—but they were mine.
Writing gave me a way to use skills I still had, even while I was unsure where they would lead.
The Skills I Took Into My Next Chapter
That career transition became part of a larger period of reflection.
Alongside lessons from my personal life, it helped me reconsider what I wanted to create and whom I wanted to help.
Eventually, that work led to Clarity con Cariño, which evolved into Modern Dating Patterns.
The connection makes sense to me now. For years, I had taken complicated information and turned it into practical guidance. I knew how to organize details, explain a process, and build a tool someone could actually use.
I began applying those skills to another kind of confusion: modern dating.
Mixed signals. Inconsistent communication. Promises that never become plans. The gap between what someone says and what their behavior repeatedly shows.
The subject changed. My interest in making complicated information useful remained.
Losing my job didn’t hand me a business plan. It created space to reconsider where my experience could take me.
Healing After Being Fired: Start With What You Can Do Today
If you’re in that first quiet stretch after losing a job, you may feel pressure to produce a plan immediately.
Update the résumé. Find the opportunity. Explain the gap. Somehow make the whole thing sound impressive by Monday.
There are practical things to handle. There are also days when you need a smaller starting point.
Try asking yourself:
What needs my attention today? Choose one practical task rather than the entire future.
What am I concluding about myself? Separate the job ending from the judgments you’re making about your ability.
What skills do I still have? Write down specific things you know how to do.
What would make today feel more manageable? A walk, a conversation, some rest, or a short plan for tomorrow.
You don’t have to feel confident before taking a useful step.
For me, the first step was a walk with Mimi. Later, it was opening my laptop and writing a page.
If you’d like a little structure for your own next step, return to Walk & Reflect. The one-page guide gives you a place to sort through the emotional noise without requiring a polished answer about what comes next.
On January 15, I couldn’t have explained where any of this would lead.
I could only walk out the door with Mimi.
That was my starting point.
Con cariño,
Karen Waleska
📲 Let’s Stay Connected
Comments