The Layoff: Day 4ish
Day 4 is better than days 1-3. I think.
I am still in denial. I went to the storage unit yesterday where I keep all my work materials and I tidied it up. Someone said- "Don't do any more work for them" but it felt good to me.
It felt good to feel busy. It felt good to know I would be turning over my materials to a survivor in a respectable fashion. The survivor did not make me redundant. The survivors of this have more work cut out for them. They have less people to call and commiserate with from time to time. They have less man-power. They have more back-breaking work and longer workdays for their salaried positions.
Perhaps if I could just get to stop feeling sorry for them, I could enjoy feeling sorry for myself.
And I have been feeling sorry for the other employees that were victims of the "re-organization". They are in stages "Anger" and "Traumatized".
Of course it is all relative, isn't it?
I read on a web article that losing your job can be equated to death of a loved one or a divorce.
No way.
One of the first things I felt when it all started to sink in for me that I had lost my job was thinking back on all the pain it felt to lose my dad. Pain isn't even the right word for it. It was debilitating and made me feel, for lack of better words, damaged.
This is not debilitating and I feel the exact opposite of damaged. This situation I can change. My attitude and outlook I have control over.
I think the best thing about losing my job is knowing that it really wasn't as bad as I ever thought it would be. I used to wonder what I would do. I pictured losing everything I had ever worked for. But what is really great is going through this and feeling relieved. I am relieved of the "what if I lose my job" scenario, and I am living it.
I have been through much worse. Maybe that was what doing without for years as a kid did for me. My siblings and I were never spoiled by "stuff". We didn't have colorful cereals, and we didn't have a whole mess of toys. What we had was imagination and a sense of resourcefulness despite whatever came our way.
Earlier today I was on a webinar/ conference call with an out-placement service with 18 others from around the U.S. One gentleman said he found out he had prostate cancer a week before being laid off.
Honestly, people. I cannot compare. Again, it is all relative.
P.S. Of course many of you know that I was offered a job today. It might work itself out- pending details, of course. So my "Layoff" stories may or may not continue. We'll see....
This is not debilitating and I feel the exact opposite of damaged. This situation I can change. My attitude and outlook I have control over.
I think the best thing about losing my job is knowing that it really wasn't as bad as I ever thought it would be. I used to wonder what I would do. I pictured losing everything I had ever worked for. But what is really great is going through this and feeling relieved. I am relieved of the "what if I lose my job" scenario, and I am living it.
I have been through much worse. Maybe that was what doing without for years as a kid did for me. My siblings and I were never spoiled by "stuff". We didn't have colorful cereals, and we didn't have a whole mess of toys. What we had was imagination and a sense of resourcefulness despite whatever came our way.
Earlier today I was on a webinar/ conference call with an out-placement service with 18 others from around the U.S. One gentleman said he found out he had prostate cancer a week before being laid off.
Honestly, people. I cannot compare. Again, it is all relative.
P.S. Of course many of you know that I was offered a job today. It might work itself out- pending details, of course. So my "Layoff" stories may or may not continue. We'll see....
Comments