Lessons I Learned From Getting Fired

I’ll never forget how it felt to land my dream job. It was a blogger position at the website of a fancy magazine I’d been reading since I was 15. When I opened the offer email, I was thrilled, and more than a little nervous. Would the job — and my performance — live up to my crazy-high expectations?

Cut to five weeks later — and one of the most nerve-wracking conversations of my life. “I know you tried really hard,” the editor to whom I reported said condescendingly, as she fired me after seven days (seven days!) on the job. "Even a really great writer would have a difficult time in this position."

Getting canned after a week was humiliating, sure (I’d giddily announced my hire on Facebook). But, worse, it made me question everything I thought I knew about my career path. Was I a fraud? An incompetent writer who’d only passed as legit? I tried to step away from the computer for a couple weeks to lick my wounds, but after recommitting to the life of a freelance writer — a life I generally love — I began to accept, and survive. I’m not going to claim I’m happy about my ousting; it still stings. But, it taught me some lessons that I’ll carry into my next position, and beyond.