Finding Yourself When You Lose Your Job

For those who have suddenly found themselves out of work, 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-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 as a job candidate and employee. Yes, many short-term negative outcomes can stem from job loss, but there are also many negative outcomes associated with having a job you hate or people you hat working with. Yes, it's tough to muster this bravado going forward while enduring job loss, but it's the first step on a new path that life has presented to you. 

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. 

This key 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, because it is a season, and all seasons come to an end, eventually.