So, now what?

My dog is sound asleep on our couch. My wife is in our guest bedroom turned home office and gym, saving the world at the not-for-profit that she runs.

I’m sitting at the kitchen counter scheduling social media posts for the day and agonizing over messaging for a series of sales emails, about to hop onto a meeting with my boss’s boss to discuss how our 2021 goals align.

It is Wednesday morning in Chicago and my day is about to take a very sharp left turn.

Poof.

There is something deeply and profoundly strange about watching your career dissolve into thin air over a Zoom call while sitting in your pajamas at your kitchen counter.

The moment I hop on the Zoom call, I see a company HR representative and my body and mind immediately go numb as I realize that this isn’t going to be a goal setting discussion after all.

Now, I’m staring down the demise of my own career with — weirdly — a smile on my face.

I’m sitting at the kitchen counter that has been my desk for the past 11 months in an 11-year-old Chicago Bears t-shirt and Peloton sweatpants (hey, content marketers aren’t exactly known for high fashion) listening to my boss’s boss tell me that this isn’t performance-related, that I’ve exceeded any and all expectations in my role and have made significant contributions to…