Who’s a Loser? Not Me, Not You

So what if you were laid off? It’s happened to so many people these days that it is not a badge of shame. It may hurt at first, but if you look at the bigger picture, you’ll see that it’s not about you or anything you’ve done.

There are a lot of ways you could view your situation:

1. “I can’t hold a job anymore. I might as well give up.”
2. “The job market is bad. I’ll never find a job.”
3. “What will people think of me? I want to hide.”
4. “I wasn’t wild about my job anyway, so now I can find another better one.”
5. “People are losing their jobs everywhere, so I’m not alone in this.

Nothing will take away your financial worries, but you will solve them sooner if you can overcome grief or shame quickly after a layoff. To have some of those feelings is natural. To let them hold you down is unproductive. This is a time to reach out and move ahead, not to withdraw.

For more on this topic, see Lying Low After a Layoff by Annie Gowen in today’s Washington Post.