At 10:30 a.m. yesterday, I was laid off from my job.
My company (they publish several health care magazines) had been
steadily going downhill since January, and this was I think the
seventh or eighth round of layoffs. I was ultimately cut because I
was the last one hired, 19 months ago.
I had sort of prepared myself for the possibility of losing my job.
And to be honest, I feel a huge sense of relief that the decision
has finally been made and I don't have to wait and wonder if
and when. For now, I am going to collect unemployment and try to
make a little something off freelance writing.
I've changed and grown a lot in the last year due to
various reasons. One way in which my mindset has evolved is that I
no longer think I need to define myself by my job. This time last
year, I would have been a wreck over losing my job because it was
my identity: What am I without a title, a paycheck, a place to
go each day?
But I realize now that the economy is sparing no one. There are Yale graduates and high school graduates who are jobless. There are twenty somethings right out of school and people in mid-life who had been in their careers for decades who are jobless. Young, old, male, female, black, white, educated, uneducated--they're all losing employment in droves.
It's easy to adopt a "we're all in this mentality" now that I'm a casualty of the recession. But even for those of you who are still working, I think it's important now more than ever to realize that you are not your job. The downturn is making people discover more what they want out of life and what their priorities should be.
No matter what situation you're in, be inspired by, not scared of, what's going on around us. Sometimes the life you know needs to be pulled out from under you to make you understand what kind of welcome mat you really want to be standing on.
