I recently had the fortunate misfortune of being laid off. Due to some corporate restructuring a few Senior Managers were eliminated, and I was one of them.
When you lose your job, everyone’s reaction to you as a newly unemployed person is the same: shock, horror, concern. Sometimes there’s a smidge of jealousy, but always an overwhelming sense of pity. Upon hearing the news, people go through an initial awkward ‘apology’ where they tell you, “I’m so sorry, you’re great, anyone would be an idiot not to hire you, you’ll land on your feet.” Then, without fail and with hope filled eyes, they will ask you, “What are you going to do now?”
To that question you, the newly unemployed and presumably directionless wanderer deserving of the world’s pity, are supposed to have some pithy answer to instill hope in the comfortably employed people whom are presently VERY concerned about your life predicament.
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| “What are you going to do now?!?!” |
For you, the concerned masses, I’d like to share I’m just not all that upset. I’ve already done the heartbreaking, surprising loss-of-job thing 4 years ago, so this time I know what to expect. Does it still suck losing a job? Absolutely. Am I devastated? Decidedly not.
The attentive readers among you will have noticed my earlier referral to the layoff as a “recent fortunate misfortune”. In truth, the layoff wasn’t all that recent. It happened weeks ago now…nearly FOUR weeks ago actually. And honestly I haven’t noticed the time ticking by all that much. I’ve been a little too busy for that. I saw the layoff coming and I prepared myself mentally to get through the unstructured months ahead.
On my very first day of unemployment I made a HUGE list of things I wanted to accomplish. Some of them were easy: finally hem those pants, repair that pesky knob on my car stereo, clean the bathroom. Some tasks were more involved: reorganize the kitchen, clean out my closets, train-for and set a new PR in a half marathon…clean the bathroom.
And I tackled the list with vigour! I’m actually about 75% of the way through – which is pretty impressive given that I’ve also made time to do lots of skiing and climbing as well as research a potential career change, continue my volunteer and social media internship work, and apply for jobs.
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| Skiing at Snoqualmie. On a Tuesday. =) |
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| Kitchen Re-Org |
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| Fantastic book I had the pleasure of reading on a few SUNNY Seattle afternoons! |
It helps that I have a fantastic support group around me too, so thank you all for being a part of my support. Please know I am absolutely looking at this as an opportunity to see what else is out there for me. At risk of being completely cliché, life is just too short, and since I entered the world of “funemployment” I truly have been living life to fullest both personally and professionally. I look forward to finding out what the Universe has in store for me next!
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| Thanks for all the support! |
