Rule No. 18: NEVER BE AFRAID TO GET FIRED

Every closed window can become an open door

— if you’re willing to walk through it.

Hello dear reader, and welcome back to another week in The Playbook: Rules for Life.

As summer winds down and school begins again, we find ourselves in that familiar shift—sorting fall clothes, bracing for colder mornings, and watching traffic inch back to pre-summer levels. The buses and subways are packed again (but honestly, when are they not?).

Eeda way—as the Guyanese would say—I pray you find a little adventure in these last days before the weather turns.

This past week, I’ve been blessed by the responses to older rules from new readers. It’s been a reminder that even when I feel like I’m just shouting into the void, the work still matters. Vulnerability often feels like exposure—but God keeps showing me that what I offer as unto Him, He can use for greater.

If you asked me a year ago if I’d be writing these Rules—or if I’d have completed four poetry books in the last ten months—I’d have laughed. Not because I wouldn’t have believed you, but because it wasn’t in my plans. But I’ve learned “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).

What once felt like the ladder being kicked out from under me has been transformed into an elevator, lifting me faster toward purpose.

This week’s rule continues where Rule 17 left off. There, I wrote about turning weakness into strength. Today, I’m writing about something that sounds just as counterintuitive:

Never be afraid to get fired.

What I Don’t Mean

Let me clarify: I’ve never wanted to be fired. I’m not saying show up to work with indifference, or slack off on a team, or walk into any space daring people to show you the door. Especially in this economy, if you have a job, keep it. Work faithfully. Provide for yourself and your family.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23).

But what I am saying is this: don’t let fear of the unknown keep you tied to places you’ve already outgrown. Every closed window can be an open door—if you’re willing to walk through it.

Detours and Destinations

Sometimes the detour is the road to your destination.

If you’ve been following along, you know I believe delay is not denial. But what I’ve really had underscored to me this year is that sometimes a detour is the only road that leads you where you were meant to go.

No one wants to be fired, laid off, or broken up with. Especially when the situation is comfortable. I know I certainly don’t. But comfort can be dangerous. It can keep us stagnant. It can trick us into trading growth for familiarity.

Maybe it’s a job with no chance of promotion but just enough pay to survive. Maybe it’s any relationship where “support” feels more like sand on your dreams than water for them. Maybe it’s a community where your voice is tolerated but not truly heard.

Rejection hurts. Job searches are exhausting. Starting over is terrifying.

But here’s the truth: sometimes being forced out is the only way to be called up.

God Moves When We Won’t

I’ve learned that sometimes the only way God can move you is if you’re removed. Fired. Cut off. Let go. Because if it were up to us, we’d stay in the safety of what we know, even if it’s killing us slowly.

I’ve been there—holding back in my work, my relationships, even in my walk with God. Choosing safety over surrender. Clinging to what I knew instead of stepping into what I was being called to. And yet, every time I let go, God proved faithful. Sometimes though, He had to throw me out in order for me to let go, and not go back.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19).

Here’s the truth: you can’t step into your next assignment while clinging to your last one. You can’t pick up what’s waiting for you if your hands are still holding on to what was.

We do it when cleaning our closets. We pack bags with clothes we no longer need before getting new ones. We clear spaces for where we want that new lamp, or new piece of furniture. Farmers burn the fields back home before planting. 

The Pattern of Scripture

This isn’t just my story—it’s the story of Scripture.

• Abraham had to leave his father’s house (Genesis 12:1).

• Joseph was betrayed, forgotten, and left in prison before he was remembered in Pharaoh’s palace (Genesis 41).

• Peter had to drop his nets—the very work that fed him—to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:19–20).

• And Jesus? He had to be crucified to conquer death and reconcile us to God (John 19).

Again and again, destiny required departure. Purpose required release.

Closing the Rule

So don’t be afraid to get fired. Don’t panic if the ladder gets kicked out from under you. Ladders only get you so far. Elevators? They rise higher, faster, and to floors you never imagined you’d step on.

Never be afraid to get fired. Sometimes that’s the only way God frees you for what’s next. And if He frees you, it’s because where He’s taking you is greater—exceedingly, and abundantly greater.