Early last month I was laid off from my job.I was laid-off in lockdown. It was a COVID related layoff. It was a bit unexpected for me. Though I was expecting some cost cutting in company but I was very sure that my job will be safe. I was working hard. But I was laid-off and so does many other.
What followed was a month long job search in the lockdown. I learned a lot in this search. In this post I am going to write how I tried to stay sane under this environment. Laid off or not , I hope this helps you in your situation.
This post is first in the series of post I am planning to write about my experiences when I was laid off in Lockdown.
Let’s start.
Stop Complaining
Accept your situation whole heartedly!!
This is very important. You are laid-off & you have no job and there are bills to pay. Digest it and move on (take a break if needed).
There is no point in complaining about it. There is no point in feeling bad about people who made a decision to cut your role. You will be wasting your precious energy which will be needed in your job search.
Strictly stay away from discussions which are going in that direction.Tell your self that this is happening to you because it is needed.
Repeat it, “It is happening to you because it is needed” .
This suggestion is very important even if you are able to find a better job within a week or take 4 months to find it. Either way you wont be able to enjoy the process/result to its full if you have burden of your past on your mind.
You are still very lucky!!!
You must be thinking that you are very unlucky. You may be think why you are the one? You may think that this is bad luck and your bad time is started.
This is all bull shit. You don’t realize how lucky you are. Be thankful and grateful for what you have. There are people who are much much unlucky.
Stop feeling bad about your self. Most likely you are top 10% of lucky people of the world.
If you follow above two advise properly you will see a wonderful outcome. You will observe that you are ready for job search. Take time, but do not start with a burden of your situation .
Life is still happening!!!
By now you will be searching job. Following will happen -
- If you are not a rock star you will come across failure.
- You will see you are deserving but still got rejected.
- You will find yourself compromising on certain aspect of job.
- You will find some people helping you, while some ignoring you.
Between all this, do not forget that “You have a life” . Live it fully. World has not come an end. Your job search should not be center of your universe. Spend time with your family. Play with your kids. Spend time with your partner. Help in household. Don’t change your life style drastically.
You wont get any thing by feeling bad and isolating yourself from everyone. Your job search is important, but don’t miss life. It is happening. If you don’t enjoy it NOW, you won’t enjoy it later.
Laugh at yourself!!
Personally for me this layoff was a humbling experience. It pulled me down and made me realize that I am just an ordinary person. We build this environment around ourself where we think of ourself as a “hero”. But really we are just “Joker”. Life is nothing but a circus. Someone is running it and enjoying it. So only thing we can do it is enjoy it.
Be Humble and laugh at your self. Laugh how foolish you were to think that this will never happen to you. Trust me this will help you. It worked wonderfully for me.
If you can read hindi, following will help
दुनिया ये circus है
और cirsus में
बड़े को भी, छोटे को भी, खरे को भी
खोटे को भी, दुबले भी, मोटे को भीनीचे से ऊपर को, ऊपर से नीचे को
आना-जाना पड़ता हैऔर ring master के कोड़े पर
कोड़ा जो भूख है
कोड़ा जो पैसा है
कोड़ा जो क़िस्मत है
तरह-तरह नाच के दिखाना यहाँ पड़ता है
बार-बार रोना और गाना यहाँ पड़ता है
Hero सेHero से जोकर बन जाना पड़ता है
I hope these advises help you in navigating through tough times. Trust me it wont last. Stay Strong, Stay Humble, Stay Foolish!!!
