I was fired at the pinnacle of my career, on my 39th birthday. And in the year that followed, I learned that there are many psychological phases of being ’let go.’

Brzezinski frames a sudden professional setback—being fired at what she considered her peak—as a formative turning point rather than a definitive defeat. By emphasizing the timing (her 39th birthday) and the “year that followed,” she highlights how job loss can trigger a prolonged, staged psychological process: shock, grief, anger, self-doubt, and eventual recalibration. The quote suggests that public success can be fragile and that identity tied too tightly to a role is vulnerable. Its larger significance is motivational and diagnostic: it normalizes the emotional complexity of being “let go” and implies that recovery involves understanding those phases and rebuilding agency.