What better moment to reflect on life, life choices and happiness than a day after you were laid off? Ultimately, the reasons do not matter much and will not be exposed here. A one to zero transition: I realized today that quitting your job (without another one planned) or being fired is a 1-to-0 transition. In physics, this is called a non-linear transition. It describes rapidly evolving phenomena like phase transitions and the exponential growth of tiny lifeforms.