When one door closes, another one opens

Sometimes it seems like the bottom has fallen out of your life. I know it felt like that when I got so sick I had to give up my much-loved career. It felt like the end of my dreams.

For a while it was. I was too ill to work more than a few hours a week, and couldn’t find anyone who wanted to hire me for that little time. But I knew it was important to focus on a goal, to have a sense of purpose so that I didn’t get depressed. Luckily, I had the book I’d been working on in my spare time for some years.

I started a routine of trying to work each day on my book. I turned the period of illness around and looked at it as a chance to write. Some days I couldn’t manage it at all, other days I wouldn’t feel well enough to write until evening. But I kept on with it, and got an enormous amount of satisfaction and pleasure out of it.

It took me a while to find work. After a couple of short-term jobs I hit the jackpot. I got a job writing articles for a national website. Over a year later I’m still doing the job, and loving it. Writing articles was the kind of work I’d been wanting to do for a while, but had found it difficult to break into. So while getting ill was stressful and unpleasant, and closed a door to one successful career, it has opened one new door for me that I feel very happy about.

Have you had an experience where as one door has closed, another one opened? If so, I'd love to hear about it.