After the firing, you need a structure. Something. Anything.
For her, it was the morning walk. Same route. Same time. Rain or not. The walk doesn’t care about your performance review. The walk doesn’t know about the settlement. The walk doesn’t ask how you’re doing or tell you to be grateful or suggest you “use this time to reflect.”
The walk is the one thing that’s yours. Nobody assigned it. Nobody can eliminate it. Nobody can restructure your route.
There’s a lesson in the routine that you’re not ready to learn yet. Something about forward motion when the destination is unclear. Something about showing up for yourself when the institution stopped showing up for you.
You’ll get there. For now, you walk.