When one is at the start of an adventure, what one cannot know is what sort it might be. Some are excruciating learning experiences (Costa Rica, don’t ask!) while others are minor karmic payback for some past indiscretion (speeding tickets and their ilk). Then there are those adventures that change your world.

World changing adventures do not announce themselves, nor does their beginning indicate their intent. They may begin soft as summer rain or as violently as an Autumn storm. However, what each adventure does promise is opportunity and surprise!

As a general rule I do not like surprises. As a result of this dislike I am nearly impossible to surprise. Don’t get me wrong…I love flowers showing up for no reason or friends dropping in unannounced – but when big surprises happen, they simply unhinge me. Thus, the entirely unexpected loss of a job split my reality. Standing on the brink of the rift I saw two paths:

• the first reaction was to pursue answers to the myriad “whys” that nearly crowded out all rational thought;
• the other was to accept the reality and to feel my way through the “what’s nexts'”

Answering the “whys” is a tempting particularly because it always seems that if one can answer the “why” the pain or disappointment will recede. In truth, answering why add insult to injury and tempts one to reformat reality – thus prolonging the inevitable reconciliation with one’s present.

After watching two people I love rip their marriage apart and then experiencing the resulting ripple effect of the “why’s” (who is/was right and why/why not, and worse yet…which side are you on?!?) made me disinclined to pursue answers to my own “whys”. Rather than asking why, I decided to focus on the “what” and the “what’s” next.

As part of the refocusing campaign I retooled my CV and began to reach out to former colleagues to see what employment options might exist. The surprising answer was first a consultancy (on a project I’d been working on before my unceremonious departure) and the next was the offer of a field post in Afghanistan.

From asking why to moving forward, there were a million serendipitous events…

• Severance, holiday pay, tax returns covered living expenses for several months
• Incredibly supportive colleagues/ friends / family
• Sale on laptops the night I was purchasing saved me $400
• Schedules that opened to accommodate me (doctor, dentist, massage therapist and hair stylist)

Though it has only been a couple of weeks since my non-optional holiday began, the edges of these experiences are beginning to fray, lost to time.  But I’m learning to relax, to trust surprises and to enjoy the adventure!