Deal, don’t deny.
Don't Deny Your Feelings
There are inevitably feelings of loss, disappointment and sadness when we are asked to leave our job. Even if we are the victim of a bean counter’s arbitrary calculations, we often cannot help but feel that there is something wrong with us. Add to this the financial insecurity and uncertainty of being without a paycheck, and we’ve got a stew of emotions that can keep us from being power, effective job seekers.
In my book, The Market for Me: Surviving Job Loss and Building Your Lifetime Career Network, I provide a list of possible ways of dealing with these negative feelings. You can push them down, I argue, but they will come back up, usually in undesireable ways such as low confidence, low motivation and depression.
What have you done to deal directly with your feelings of loss and even shame? How have you embraced the difficult situation in healthy and nurturing ways? How do you restore your own power when you feel powerless?
Share your ideas in the commens on this post so that we can all benefit.
If you suspect that you’re being victimized by unresolved sadness and disappointment, choose the ideas here that appeal to you.
Ideas from the Book
- Journal about your feelings.
- Tell a trusted friend how you really feel.
- Exercise.
- Get active in a church, mosque or synagogue.
- Volunteer.
- Dream build.
- Get up early each morning.
- Read the biography of someone you admire.
- Eulogize your job in writing.
- Send a note to former teammates telling them what you appreciated about them.
- Tell the truth about how you feel when asked, “How’s it going?”
- Start building your personal network.
- Tell your story and get it out.
- Commit to something.
- Give yourself some time off.
Tell us what works for you.
