As you can see, losing your job is not quite as bad as going to jail but certainly worse than being pregnant. The point is, you are supposed to feel lousy. Losing your job is a terrible insult to your self-esteem, no matter what the situation was that put you out of work. What you are feeling is grief for a terrible loss you have experienced. Your emotions as a response to this loss will range from anger and betrayal to disappointment and hurt. If you know what to expect, you can be better prepared to deal with the impact on your life.
The Emotional Impact
Lynn was a project manager for an industrial design firm. She remembers the day she was laid off: "There was no doubt the company was in trouble. We'd watched as they tried everything to keep it afloat: vacations without pay, early retirements, you name it. Whenever I talked about it with my husband, though, I always talked about how worried I was about some of the young people working for me. How would their families survive? I remember the day they told me. I drove home in this state of shock wondering, 'How am I going to tell Paul and the kids?' When I got home I didn't have to say anything. I burst into tears as I walked through the door. That's how they knew. I never thought it would be me. How could they do this to me? Didn't they understand how important I was to the operation? That's when it hit me: I guess I just wasn't as important as I thought I was. Maybe I really wasn't all that good."
Few experiences in life are more devastating than sitting in a room listening to someone tell you that you are out of a job. No matter how they say it, the news hits you like a fist in the stomach. Your heart pounds, your mind races, you aren't sure if you should cry or hit someone. You put a few things in a card- board box (or someone has already done it for you) and drive home dazed.
The anger and betrayal are soon replaced by panic as you wonder how you'll make the mortgage payments. In fact, that is what makes job loss so difficult: At a time when you are already dealing with a huge psychological blow, you are suddenly thrust into the middle of a potentially severe financial crisis. You now have not just one problem, you have two. Not only do you have to somehow survive the personal devastation of losing a job, you also have to manage on one less income.
Add a spouse and one or more children depending on you and the emotional distress can seem overwhelming. There may not seem to be much good news when you find out you've lost a job. The most important thing to remember if it happens to you is: You are not alone. Despite the anger, depression, and isolation you may feel, there are hundreds of thousands of competent, hard-working, talented people who have lost jobs. Some experts estimate that as many as two out of three people will be fired or laid off at one time during their careers. You aren't the first, and you can learn from their experiences. This article recounts some of the experiences of people who have survived exactly what you sometimes feel you cannot survive. In their stories, and in the strategies they used to survive the emotional impact of losing a job, you can find ways to work through one of the most difficult times in your life.
