Finding Yourself When Losing Your Job

The year is almost a wrap, and for some, it can't be gone soon enough. But for many - actually millions - who suddenly found themselves out of work in 2020 due to the pandemic, the year ending can signify the continuation of a chapter, instead of the closing of it.

The loss of a job is about more than a loss of income. For tenured workers job loss can be synonymous with the loss of identity. It's the loss of a job that reveals the importance of work, and the sense of purpose that it brings to our lives - not to mention negative impact on self-esteem and self-worth. 

While it's normal to mourn the loss of a job, it's crucial to recognize the opportunities that accompany every job loss. Didn't like your co-workers? Good riddance to them. They are now in your rear view mirror. Didn't like your pay, your role, or your boss? Celebrate your opportunity to change all that, courtesy of your job loss.

Losing your job can and does mean finding yourself. Your new self. The one who will do better at self-advocating during interviews, and while working at your new job. Yes, many negative life outcomes can stem from job loss, but there are many negative outcomes associated with having a job for which you are not engaged, improperly utilized, or not best suited. Yes, it's tough to muster this bravado going forward while enduring job loss, but it's necessary. 

A new perspective will help you see new possibilities for rebirth after the death of the work-life that you once had, and are now mourning. The pandemic, which finds millions of people mourning the loss of life as we once knew it, just exacerbates job loss mourning. That's understandable. What's also understandable to me as a student of human behavior and as a career & life coach, is that meaning in life centers on work, relationships, and love - and not necessarily in that order. Jobs impact the things that matter; thus their significance. 

When we lose a job we inevitably lose a portion of ourselves that we have cultivated. That cultivation took time. But we gain the opportunity (through sudden time availability) to develop new aspects of our talents, skills, and identities that may have been undernourished or underutilized. This is when, where, and how you find yourself after losing your job, and preparing to search for another. 

The introspection requires hard work, but it's the most worthwhile work you can do to stay mentally unencumbered while being unemployed during your season of transition.