Meet Our Community: Stories of Resilience
Our MidZen community stories celebrate everyday people navigating the ups, downs, and finding the happy medium. Through these shared experiences, we hope you’ll feel seen, valued, and reminded that you’ve got this—and we’ve got you.
Kate’s Year of “Holy Hell” and Her MidZen Comeback
Let’s meet Kate, a 34-year-old MidZen warrior who’s lived through a year that can only be described as the plot of a soap opera written by a very creative toddler. If resilience is a muscle, Kate’s could bench-press a car by now.
It All Started with a Zoom Firing...
Picture this: Kate was at her "kind-of-ok-but-not-really" corporate job, logging in from her couch with a cup of coffee and pajamas on the bottom. One chilly Thursday morning, she got an unexpected invite for a "quick check-in" Zoom call from her boss. Kate thought they might be handing out raises (spoiler alert: they were not).
"Kate," her boss said, “I’ll be brief, today is your last day. We’re going in a different direction.”
That direction, it turned out, was right off the company payroll. No severance. No "Thanks for your hard work." Just a click of the “End Meeting” button, leaving Kate staring at her own shocked face in the little Zoom box. And just like that, her career was as dead as the potted plant on her desk.
Cue the Downward Spiral: The Year of Unemployment Adventures
What followed was a series of months that could have been a best-selling self-help book titled How NOT to Handle Unemployment. Kate tried it all to get back into the workforce, but the job market wasn’t having it. She networked the sh*t out of her network, wrote cover letters with enough forced enthusiasm to fuel a high school pep rally, and even gave substitute teaching a shot. Turns out, managing a classroom full of first graders was a tad outside her skill set.
So, in between applying to jobs and praying to every deity she could think of, Kate discovered a few things about herself:
Stress eating is an Olympic-level sport. She gained 20 pounds and proudly named her belly “Chonks.” Chonks didn’t come with judgment, only comfort. A loyal friend in a year of chaos.
Her friends weren’t as loyal as Chonks. After years of dealing with increasingly toxic vibes from her three best friends, she finally called it quits. There was just no room left for passive-aggressive texts in her unemployed heart. The friendship break-up was rough, but sometimes trimming the toxic tree is necessary for real growth.
Almost nuking her marriage over his ‘job advice.’ Her husband, bless his “helpful” heart, had a habit of suggesting “practical” solutions. At one point, he casually suggested she “just take an online coding bootcamp” because “tech jobs are hiring!” Let’s just say that conversation ended with a few words that can’t be repeated here. But hey, they made it through, stronger and slightly more aware of each other’s emotional limits.
From Rock Bottom to MidZen Rising
By month ten, Kate had hit a wall. She couldn’t bear another chirpy “We had so many wonderful candidates apply, unfortunately you are not one of them” email, nor the empty optimism of yet another YouTube productivity hack. So, instead of trying harder, she did the unthinkable: she stopped trying altogether. She decided she’d take it MidZen.
MidZen, in case you’re wondering, is that delicate balance between being at peace and absolutely not putting up with any more crap. It’s the art of seeing yourself as the main character in your own hilarious comeback story.
She began her MidZen practice by letting go of the pressure to be productive and “figure it all out.” Instead, she focused on:
Embracing Chonks with pride. She started exercising for joy instead of weight loss and bought clothes that actually fit and made her feel like a snack. Chonks became a part of her identity, and damn, she rocked it.
Healing without guilt. Kate finally had time to confront her complicated feelings about her old friends. She realized they hadn’t been bringing good energy to her life, and letting go was as much a gift to herself as it was a way to make space for people who lifted her up.
Redefining success on her terms. Kate realized she’d been defining her worth by her job title, so she threw out that tired metric and decided success meant being happy, present, and occasionally ridiculous. She started journaling, meditating, and telling her husband they were not talking about coding bootcamps at dinner.
Then, because the universe loves a good plot twist, a real, meaningful job landed in her lap. She got an offer for a position that let her use her skills and actually pay her worth, with an organization she believed in. (Spoiler: they even gave her time off.)
Kate’s MidZen Mantra:
“Resilience doesn’t mean never falling apart; it means getting back up and keeping your sarcasm intact.”
Kate’s story is a reminder that the messy middle is often the most transformative part of any journey. She emerged from a year of chaos not just intact, but stronger, wiser, and a little sassier. Her resilience wasn’t about clawing her way back to the top; it was about redefining what “the top” even meant.
And that, MidZen fam, is the true art of resilience.
