"If you don't like the road you are walking, start paving another one," this is a quote from Dolly Parton. This quote asks us to embrace change and trust the universe's plan. This quote asks us to embrace change and trust the universe's plan.

For two years, I struggled with how my employer was treating me. My employer had started devaluing my role within the company in ways I had never experienced. My employer had become sneaky. Their work requests had no connection to my work history. Their motives were unclear as their actions stopped aligning with their words.

I had worked there for over a decade and saw myself as a valuable player who was well-liked by my peers and upper management. I was unsure of why I was being treated so poorly. Your relationship with your supervisor and your company, sometimes, not all the time, can be such an asymmetrical relationship. The employer holds all the cards. Only they know why they are doing something; you are lucky if they decide to let you in on the secret. I asked questions of my boss, looking for clarity and fairness so that I could plan my life. I started to ask questions as I wandered in the darkness of my confusion. Where was this coming from?

Was it because I am an experienced hire? Was I suddenly too expensive? Was I not providing a tangible return on my salary to the organization? Maybe because I am Black? It surely was not because of my performance because I had only received stellar reviews. I know the impact of my decisions saved the company well beyond what I was being paid. One thing I learned in graduate school is that all employees need to know how to make or save the company money.

Here is the sad part. Struggling with my professional life somehow started to seep into my personal life. A professional crisis had slowly turned into a personal crisis like a frog in hot water. An honest question of who I am emerged.

At this point in my life, I was heavily involved in my community, serving on several non-profit boards, meeting with young people, and helping them understand how to navigate their lives, relationships, and careers. As my life started to unwind, I unexpectedly saw that my interests only made sense because of my job.

Wow!

My ability to donate, serve on committees, and be a confident voice of wisdom really only had life because of the fulfillment that I was getting from my job. I never saw that until I started to see what was supporting everything was slowly slipping away. Internally, I did not see I was doing all of this because I could or should be without the success of my job. My personal identity predicament is the actual reason I was adrift.

I am a very planned person. I needed to make sense of things before my life ran itself off a cliff. I came across this quote, and it totally resonated with me. A new path. Was the universe sending me through these changes to put me on a new path? There could not be another path. I was on the best path. Life could not be any better. Was that true, or was this my resistance to the universe's call to chart a new path for myself? Growing meant changing, at least in my mind.

My biggest roadblock to paving a new path was change. I was happy, right? Or I was complacent. I could do that job with my eyes closed, but that did not mean that I had to change or give up what I had. Plus, I was mad. Pissed off. I deserved better from my employer. I couldn't see where I was going because the fog of anger concealed the road ahead. Or hiding my future.

Since I did not know what was next move or what I was supposed to be next, I would do nothing. I had become so scared that I could not move. If I did chart a new path, what if I lost everything? What if I made a mistake? As a young man, I tried to chart my own path, and it was rough. I lost so much.

One day, I finally let it go. While sitting outside witnessing nature, my mind was quiet. I saw it. I finally saw. What happened to me as a young man had nothing to do with me today. If anything, I needed that experience to learn what to do differently. In retrospect, I gained much more than I lost. I also concluded that each time something significant went wrong in my life, it was followed by something significantly good. The blockage started to release. Then came a flood of information rushed into my consciousness over some time.

Yes, I had no reason to be scared. There was something new and even better for me over there. Wherever there was. I just needed to start moving; even if it was a crawl, I was at least moving toward that better place. Change stopped being the enemy. As a matter of fact, I made friends with change, and I quit my job.

If you are in the same place as me, not only professionally, I want to realize that everything will be okay. If you feel overwhelmed, then sit in nature. Nature works much like WD40 by loosening up old joints you may not have used in a while.

Embrace change. Because you know everything will be okay, you don't have to worry about the inevitable change.

Lastly, learn how to smile in admist your troubles. I would even say to be thankful for your trials because those trials are the reason why life got better.