It seemed like you were very happy with working at Nike. I know how hard it can be to get layed off, and perhaps even more difficult to see the event as an opportunity for new adventure. Nonetheless, try to make yourself kick back from the grief and put on the glasses that allow you to see the smørgåsbord of possible employers out there, just waiting for your application.

Make yourself a prioritized list and work yourself up from number five down to the top. Additional rejection is easier to take when it doesn’t come from your first choice, and should you get a job offer from an employer other than your first pick, you can still try for number one.

If you don’t get your foot in with any of the five, perhaps it’s time to rethink your priorities and make a new list. The most important think is to keep going, though. Don’t give up – better times wil change you and your view of the world!

I seem to have inadvertedly fired the synapse starting the cerebellar program for “type the word think” instead of the one for “type the word thing” – my apologies.

Anyway, if I may be so blunt (as I always am), I have always thought that your talent was wasted on ordinary office jobs. I don’t know if it’s modesty or a reluctance to taint your dream with reality, but I really think you could do more to move closer to the subject you really live for: fiction.

Could these recent events be fate’s way of kicking your butt in an attempt to force you toward your own goals? Comfort zones can be suffocating to the part of you that strives to realize your potential. You were meant for literature and “sometime in the future” is nothing but a Fata Morgana, which will never materialize on its own accord.

It’s cruel, but now is the time to jump. There is no safety net, but since you’re young and fairly unrestrained, there are also no children or mortgages to weigh you down. Screw the money; this is more important. Find a publisher – any publisher – and make them give you a job – any job – so you can gain some experience in the field of your passion.

I know I run the risk of turning you off this plan, since I went ahead and verbalized it, but don’t tell me it is something that has never occurred to you as a possible cause of action. If you’re already in the soup and have to expend the energy to remedy things, why not spend it on something that will feel so much better in the long term. There is no easy way out from where you are at, there is only the right way and the wrong way. Don’t waste the gift nature gave you.

Once again, I apologize for my bluntness and the emotional stress it causes, but I feel these things had to be said.

I absolutely agree. You can do eeeeeet!