One of my favorite rom coms is “You’ve Got Mail” with the dynamic duo Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a holiday classic. My favorite part is when Meg Ryan mistakenly ventures in the 10-item, cash-only line in the mad rush that is pre-Thanksgiving shopping. With no cash and more than 10 items, the hurried New Yorkers behind Ryan are angry and getting mouthy. Tom Hanks, her enemy but budding love interest, tries to help her by charming the cashier into taking her credit card and finally saying, “Happy Thanksgiving, back.”
Meg Ryan’s character loses her beloved bookshop to Tom Hanks’ big box store. It’s devastating. Her whole identity was wrapped up in that store, and now it’s gone. But by the end of the movie, she realizes that losing the bookshop actually freed her to discover a life she never knew she wanted. The thing that destroyed her plans ended up being the best thing that could have happened. Sounds familiar to me actually…..
I think about that a lot in this industry, especially around Thanksgiving when everyone’s talking about gratitude. Because let’s be honest, some of the best things that have happened in our careers came from situations we absolutely did not want.
Getting laid off during a restructure that forced you to finally take that leap into consulting. The major incident that went sideways and made you completely rebuild your crisis management approach, which then became your competitive advantage. The budget cuts that killed your favorite program but forced you to innovate with less and actually get better results. The demotion that felt like a slap in the face but pushed you into a different part of the organization where you actually found your calling. Can you relate?
These moments are brutal when they’re happening. You’re angry, frustrated, maybe even questioning whether you’re in the right industry, in the organization or in the right relationship. But here’s what I’ve learned: sometimes the things we fight against the hardest are exactly what we need to grow. Sometimes getting what we don’t want is the universe’s way of redirecting us toward something better.
So, this Thanksgiving, maybe be grateful for the uncomfortable stuff? The changes you didn’t ask for. The disruptions that forced you out of your comfort zone. The losses that made room for something new. Because resisting change doesn’t stop it from happening. It just keeps you stuck in a plan that might not have been the right one anyway.
The thing you didn’t want might turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you. You just won’t know it until you stop fighting it.
With that, Happy Thanksgiving, back.