Last year, I was laid off. I’m fortunate – it was my first time in a twenty-year plus career. While initially surprised, my very next feeling was FREEDOM. I was letting go of a place that induced stress, anxiety, inflammation, and pressure. All of this was increasingly damaging to my mental, physical, and emotional well-being. I was doubting myself and instead of boiling out, I was cooking myself from the inside out.
Moments after I was let go, waves of nervousness, doubt, and concern washed over me. While I knew the best was yet to come, the job market wasn’t in a great place. It seemed saturated with talented candidates like me with similar skills and backgrounds. While looking for a new job wasn’t exactly a daunting experience, the idea of passive and direct rejection wasn’t something I was looking forward to. Yet looking for a job was only half of the work that needed to be done. I had more work to do on me during this time.
Isolate feelings from facts
This was an important first step and admittedly was instructed by my therapist to do. In the swirl of my emotions weeks before I was laid off, she forcefully said this me. This statement snapped me into reality as I realized that I needed to ground myself into facts – what did I have control over and what did I not have control over. I continued this interrogation after I was laid off and came to terms with what happened, how I was going to move forward, and what I wanted to do next.
Get support from others
I was fortunate to have a village of people who encouraged and supported me. They assured and reassured me that things were going to work out well. They actively provided recommendations and connections as I looked for a job and offered themselves as a sounding board as I talked through my next steps. Additionally, I found support in unexpected people including a new mom friend I decided to be honest and vulnerable with. I found care and comfort in all the right places and more importantly I didn’t feel like a unicorn in my experience.
Block out the bull
Admittedly, in the private, quiet moments, a part of me still felt like I failed. Despite knowing what a gift I was given, being laid off still felt like rejection. In the spirit of ‘isolating feelings from facts’ I had to wrestle with this failure and rejection self-talk. However, I knew this talk was low vibration thinking and my greater responsibility was to learn the lessons and rebound to a better experience.
Ultimately, I learned that letting go is an active process. It’s not a ‘to do’ activity to be completed in a couple of days, weeks, or months. In fact, I’m still letting go over a year later. I remind myself that I’m still growing from the pruning of that experience. The good news – I was fortunate to find a job after a couple of months of looking. It was exactly what I was looking for and uniquely was the perfect fit for me. Letting go allowed me to let in an opportunity that’s fortified my wellbeing, self-confidence, and belief in myself.
