I was sitting at a graduation recently and I noticed this quote on the back of a graduation cap, "An exit door is always an entrance door elsewhere". You probably have hear the saying this way " When one door closes another door opens. Life is full of opportunities and most folks either refuse to open the door or realize that they have been handed a new opportunity. For example the top five stressors are; death of a love one, moving, divorce, job loss and a major illness . Within each of these stressful events is an entrance to a door elsewhere.
When you lose a love one the entrance feels so much like an exit that it is more difficult for some to see it as an entrance. Losing a love one forces a pereson to accept their grief, understand their emotional responses, , adjust to life without the love one and reinvent how they plan to move forward with life including routines and things they enjoyed with their love one.
Moving and divorce can also be equated to feelings of loss if they are unexpected or initiated by someone else. However moving and divorce are opportunties to start over and a entrance door elsewhere. I remember the first time I got my own place and how anxious and excited I was about decorating it. I was trying to figure out what colors and patterns I wanted. Although moving was an exit it was time of planning, figuring things out , enjoying something new and entrance into a lot of unexpected joy.
Job loss is also a significant stressor; wondering how you can pay bills, live off unemployment, find new employment, and just the day to day life challenges. However job loss is also an entrance into elsewhere. Job loss can be a time of reinvention, career change and business opportunities that far out weigh wherever you were before. Job loss can be life threatening for some and for others just a new pathway to try something they have always wanted to do, but did'nt have the courage to do before.
My point is, an exit door does not mean you are losing anything. Most of the time in my opinion, that exit door is a way for you to gain so much more. Stress produces a fight or flight response in our bodies and with all life stressors we can choose how to respond. So choose joy, patience, positive thinking, positve friends, and mindful practices. When you chose the positive reaction under stress, you be relieved to know things usually work in your favor. Remember you always have a choice about how to react to any given situation in life. Remember an exit doors leads to an entrance some where else. So choose to think your exit door is leading you to a wonderful opportunity.