When Life Hands You a Shit Sandwich

When Life Hands You a Shit Sandwich

🌼 Date: Sunday, December 14, 2025
Last week handed me a lesson I didn’t ask for — but apparently needed.

❤️‍🩹 Status: Alive. Disappointed. Clear.

✨ Outlook: Evolving.

⚡ Energy: Reserved for what actually matters.

Have you ever waited patiently for something for years?

Not months.
Not casually.
Years.

I did everything right. I showed up. I worked harder than required. I trained myself and others. I stayed late. I came in early. I said yes when it wasn’t my job to say yes. I believed the promises that were made to me.

And then… I got the form letter. Eight years of my heart and soul for a form letter.

You know the one.
“So many qualified candidates.”
Sure. Okay.

What hurt most wasn’t the “no.”
It was the silence after.
No call. No conversation. No courtesy.

Just confirmation that sometimes loyalty is only valued when it’s convenient.

And here’s the part that surprised even me:
I didn’t break.

I paused.

Because somewhere between cancer appointments, chemo schedules, and realizing how fragile life actually is, something clicked.

This job — this place — no longer gets to be the thing that defines my worth.

I am done sacrificing my health, my time, and my spirit for promises that never materialize.

So, I made a decision.

During chemo, my job is to heal.
My job is to rest.
My job is to protect what energy I have left.

I will no longer overextend myself to make systems work that don’t show up for me in return. I will do my job — not all the extra unpaid emotional labor that came with it.

And here’s the unexpected part:

Instead of shrinking… I started imagining.

If this blog can reach people across states, across countries, across the world — maybe this is the universe finally shouting what it’s been whispering for years:

You are meant for more than this one tiny box!

I’ve spent my life helping — foster kids, students, drivers, trainees. I love teaching. I love supporting. I love making people feel capable and seen.

Why limit that to one building, one little place…
when the internet exists?

When I was handed a giant shit sandwich last week, I realized something important:

I don’t have to eat it!

I’m allowed to say, “No thank you. I’m full.”
Also — I’m a vegetarian.

So here I am.
Still standing.
Still breathing.
Still me.

Just clearer.
Boundaried.
And no longer available for nonsense.

And today?
That’s enough.

💗 Tina –
One Badass Day at a Time