It’s normal to feel vulnerable or even angry after losing a job. The good news is that despite the stress of job loss and unemployment, you can still do many things to take control of the situation and maintain your spirits. Through taking care of yourself, reaching out to others, and taking the opportunity to rethink your career goals and rediscover canhelp you take care of yourself during such a time.
It is also the reason why job loss and unemployment is one of the most stressful things you can experience.
Apart from losing income, major losses come about with the loss of a job. These may include:
- Loss of professional identity
- Loss of self-esteem and self-confidence
- Loss of a daily routine
- Loss of a work-based social network
- Loss of sense of security
Responses to Job Loss
Grief
A natural response to a job loss is grief since Losing a job leads to a person making rapid changes. Anger, panic, rejection and fear are usually experienced. What you should know is that these are normal reactions to a job loss and one has every right to have them. The best thing to do is to accept those feelings and go easy on oneself. Through a job loss experience, one can grow stronger andeven more resilient in the overcoming process.
In coping up with the job loss stress, it’s important to actively counter your feelings and find healthy grieving ways. By acknowledging such feelings and challenging negative thoughts greatly helps to deal with the loss and move on. One may talk to a trusted friend or family member about what they going through as it helps to make them feel better. Writing about your feelings regarding being laid off can also help greatly.
Reaching Out
This is another method of coping up with job loss. Letting other people know that you lost your job and that you are looking for another is another way of coping p with job loss stress. One should not underestimate the importance of other people when faced with job loss. Turning to the people you trust for support and staying connected through networking helps to achieve a lot.
Involving the Family
Unemployment affects the whole family;therefore informing them of the situation is helpful rather than keeping them in the dark about it. Keep your family in the loop about your job search plans, listening to their concerns and making family time fun helps the whole family stay positive.
Taking care of yourself
The stress of job loss widely affects one’s health. Looking after your emotional and physical needs in the healthiest manner is a huge step to making stress management a priority.Maintaining balance in your life, making time for regular exercises, plenty of sleep and practicing relaxation techniques are good strategies of looking after oneself as they boost feelings of serenity and joy and teach you how to stay calm in challenging situations including job loss and unemployment.