Life After Layoff: The Surprising Upside
Being laid off a little over a month ago from my corporate job after 18 years has been a real emotional roller coaster. I had a hard time seeing any upside when all I could think about was the financial devastation and the idea of trying to re-enter the workforce in my 50’s. Terrifying. Especially for a risk-averse, change-averse introvert like me. There is a reason I stayed at one job for 18 years, after all.
But — the journey has led me to realize some incredible benefits. I am here to tell you, as hard as it is, please, for your own well being, make the most of your time if you find yourself in this position. Before you jump headfirst into your next career move or applying and doing interviews, just take some time, even if only a few days, to appreciate and take advantage of this downtime that you will never get back. Make the most of it by caring for yourself and your loved ones.
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Here are the main things I focused on during this time:
Slow Down
Enjoy some time with fewer things on the schedule. While I still have stress, I no longer have the stress of that job. Zoom meetings? A thing of the past. Projects, deadlines, the constant pings, the pressures of sales quotas. Gone overnight. My world got so quiet. Which, admittedly, was jarring at first. What would I do with myself all day? With no one at my job to need me and no work responsibilities, what was my purpose in life now?
Let me clarify, I have a family. I’m still needed, and was always needed by my family of course. My husband, my adult children, my grandchild and my aging mother. But you know what I mean. My work was a huge part of my identity and with that gone, I felt adrift.
And that is when it hit me: For years as I worked remotely from home, chained to my computer for hours, I put so much of my effort and energy into my career, and yet, I struggled with the feeling that other parts of my life were passing me by. I was missing time with my family, I had to always be “on” with my job. Working for a national corporation, work from home was not the walk in the park people think it is. Lunchtime meetings with West Coast team members was a regular thing. I had no lunch breaks. I had virtual meetings back to back all day on most days.
Now, I have a chance to step away from all that and just be in the moment. Spend my days with my family, giving my full attention to my loved ones, and some me time as well, just existing, with no expectations of me.
That is a gift that I cannot take for granted and I would encourage you to recognize that as well. I know it’s hard not to think about how you will support these wonderful people who rely on your paycheck, but, I promise, your time and full attention will mean more to them than you may realize if you have been caught up in the grind of your job like I was.
Check in with Your Physical Health
About a year ago, before my layoff, I had hit a major turning point in my career where I was feeling the burnout, the stress was at an all time high, and the layoffs had been happening routinely, so, I sort of knew at that point that my number could be up at any given time.
That was a sobering combination — more stress, more pressure than ever before, and now, a constant lack of job security. Living in fear every six months that my name may be on the list of the next wave of layoffs. Needless to say my mental and physical health were at an all time low.
At the time about a year ago, it so happened both my husband and I had small health scares which turned out to be wake up calls for us both. I am so thankful that we took steps then to get healthier and be more active. We found a gym we liked and learned weight training for the first time in our lives and we have been consistent with that. I also do a little yoga and walking. It was amazing how taking that time to focus on ourselves helped us find balance with the stress of our jobs.
If you have not already taken steps to work on your physical health, I encourage you to do so ASAP. Even if that means just taking more walks. Whatever you can do is going to help with your mental focus and your ability to cope with the loss of this massive piece of your identity.
There is no time like the present! You have free time you have not had in so long — take advantage of it! Work on your physical and mental well being. I promise this will pay off in dividends and will help you have a more positive outlook on life. It will give you something to focus on besides wallowing in all the fears and uncertainty that are probably bouncing around in your brain right now.
Adjust your Lifestyle and spending where you can
This one may seem obvious. Without a paycheck for the moment, you obviously want to tighten the spending. But I am talking about something bigger. There is something freeing about letting go of things and material items that tie us down to the need for a bigger paycheck, a more stressful existence and all the trappings that go with the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed.
Underconsumption Core has been a social media trend for a while now. With the economy and the price of goods having gone up so much higher since Covid, it only makes sense that we should consume less.
I spent my downtime immediately after my layoff purging my home. We decluttered and my husband and I had a real moment of realization in the process. Why do we have so much stuff?
We gave away and even sold a lot of things that were just taking up space and perhaps would be valuable to others. This was very freeing because it got us thinking — what else can we do without?
Once upon a time early in our marriage, we got by on next to nothing as we both built our careers. We realized we can get by on next to nothing again if we have to. Obviously we need to plan for retirement and continue making money, but, we did a deep dive on our expenses and eliminated a lot of nice-to-haves, cut where we could, and got our monthly budget down considerably. The eating out and take out food was far more out of control than we had realized, so that was eye-opening, and a fairly easy place to start saving money.
You may find you don’t need to make as much money as you made before. Perhaps you can find a job you are passionate about and find the work life balance we all crave.
