Have You Lost Your Job?

In the month of October 2001, over 475,000 people were laid off from their jobs. That’s not counting September, and the prospects for more layoffs are looming on the horizon. Losing your job creates many emotions. For some people, their work is their identity. When they lose that identity, they lose a part of themselves, leaving them feeling helpless and miserable. For others, it is an embarrassment, a sort of social black eye. They feel humiliated that they are now unemployed.

The loss of your job is almost as traumatic as getting a divorce or losing a loved one. You have ‘lost’ something and it takes time to get through those feelings of loss and helplessness. You will go through the same ‘grief process’ that everyone who experiences a significant loss goes through. The grief process will go something like this:

Shock – What!!

Denial – No – they made a mistake. They will call me back.

Fear – What if I can’t find another job?

Anger – How dare you do this to me!

Depression – What am I going to do now?

Acceptance – I can handle this!

It is important to get to the acceptance stage as soon as possible. The time frame is different for each person, depending on how badly this experience has wounded you emotionally.

No matter what you’re initial feelings are, the real answer is that some times we have no control over the situation that causes companies to reduce their workforce. So what do we have control over? We do have control over how we respond to this news, how we go forward from here. The key word here is ‘forward’.

Look not mournfully into the past.
It comes not back again.
Wisely improve the present.
It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Stay focused on your future, your new beginnings. Have confidence in your abilities, expect to overcome this problem, and you will be surprised how quickly you can see the future.

Joe Freeman

None of us knows what the next change is going to be,
what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner,
waiting a few months or a few years
to change all the tenor of our lives.
-Kathleen Norris