Open and Closed Doors

I love doors. I have been obsessed with them since I was a young girl. Whenever I travel, I love to take photos of interesting ones. It’s funny because as I look through my collection of pictures of doors, they are always closed.

Alexander Graham Bell is known for the legendary quote, “When one door closes, another door opens.” Over the years, we have all heard a variation of this quote. We say it to those in our lives who have faced rejection or loss of some sort.

And it is true. Our lives are essentially a long hallway full of doors. Each door presents a new set of adventures or a new journey to experience.

But at some point, each adventure and journey must end, whether it is a personal journey, such as a relationship, or a professional adventure, like a career or job.

This week, I had the door to my career slam shut in my face. The details don’t matter. And in hindsight, I think I saw the door inching closer to being closed for quite some time. But as can be expected, the initial first 24 hours after the door closed, I must have heard Bell’s quote a thousand times.

Over the next few days, I began thinking about what I wanted to do professionally.

Do I want to open yet another door to more corporate finance?

Do I want to open the door that leads to the depths of self-pity?

Or do I want to finally take the leap and focus on writing full-time, booking speaking engagements, and potentially launching my consulting firm?

I have more questions than I do answers.

I’m standing in my hallway of future doors, staring at each one, waiting for the call or sign for which one will open.

I may not know which door will open next, and while this can be terrifying, I am open to allowing myself the space to listen to the universe.

After all, I can’t force closed doors to re-open. But I can move forward, be patient, and allow the right door to open for me. Because, after all, we only move Always Forward.