This happened to me and I sat around on the couch eating & feeling sorry for myself for 6 months,gained 50 lbs, & nothing fit. It is so easy to find your way to the couch and very,very hard to get up one your but is parked there. Your being let go is the economy and not you. Just think of this as a new door being opened.
Hey guys, thanks so much for the love! <3 It's really helping me cope, and uplifting my spirits. I'm looking at things more positively now, though there are occasions where I lapse back into the sadness. It's less of a "oh-my-goodness-I-don't-know-what-to-do-now," and more of a "man-I'm-so-gonna-miss-this-place!".
The latter is especially true when my colleague says things to me like, "Eh, I'm gonna miss you leh... My partner in crime..." It just makes me want to burst into tears again. He's been my best bud here and we share so many things... Life's not going to be the same without them!
On a good note, my ever loving and supportive boyfriend has gotten my a temp job at his office while I search for a job in the photography industry. It's going to be hard, it took me almost eight months after my graduation to get this job, and it might take even longer now, since the economy is so bad. Also, my GM has promised me a letter of recommendation, so that ain't too bad either.
Thank you all for your kind words, I really needed and it really did help.
Tonight I'll be telling my mom, cause she's overseas and only coming home around 1am... I really don't know how she'll handle it. She's been very judgemental before and I'm quite scared. But what's done is done and there's really nothing she can do about it.
But I am afraid that she'll remove all the optimism that has been leaking back in with just a snide comment. She has that kind of ability.
Reading this was a little ironic for me. I am the CEO of a small company. I came home today after doing the first of three layoffs that will happen between now and Monday.
I made the decision. I also selected the folks. It is the right decision, it may mean the difference between laying off three folks and laying off 35 because the company can't go on. I still feel sick about it.
Seniority becomes the easy way because this is miserable for the employers too. I am sick about this, (part of the reason I'm up and posting at 3am.) I stayed late tonight to tell the staff member in person because I didn't think anyone else, even her immediate supervisor, should have to do it.
This isn't about you, it is about a miserable economy. It is awful and sad, it is a true loss, but you need to separate your emotions from the reality. The reality (as someone said) is that you didn't fail, the company failed you.
I am sending you many good wishes. I can only say "This too shall pass"
When my boss explained to me that letting me go was hard for him all I could think was, "Well, you have a job. I don't know what my family will do until I do again". That was almost 7 weeks ago now - and I not only still do not have a job, there's nothing on the horizon yet either.
I hope your mother is supportive. My folks have been wonderful (though due to dad's cancer and mom's illness, I'd been sending them money to help them survive every month - heh - so they're also hurting now).
I lost a job one time, and after a few days of being terribly angry, I realized that a job is not all of who I am, and I didn't fail. Actually, I didn't like my supervisor so in the end it was ok.
So, while you're looking for a full time job, think about your own business. There's a ton of things you can do. You mentioned you're a photographer, right.
Network to do some weddings, graduations, family photos for Christmas cards, etc, at a discount rate if you can. Consider a dog walking service, or running errands for people, you know, pick up their dry cleaning, prescriptions, take their dog/cat to the vet, etc. Teach a photography class for beginners. There is a ton of stuff you can do without spending a bunch of money.
Just grab your entrepreneurial spirit and go for it.
I feel your pain. I was just let go from my job at the beginning of February. I felt i was underpaid but it was the first job i ever kept more than two years and didn't hate getting up and going in everyday. I was with my company for 6 years. I knew it might be coming so i took it alot better than my boss thought i would. I didn't shed a tear. When every one at work asked me what i was going to do....i replied, excersize everyday and collect my unemployment. lol. For the first month, i barely excersized a day. But now, in month two, i am feeling much more motivated to get up and do it. Next time i go by my old job (I worked at a radio station), I plan to be back in shape like i was last year (I put on about 20 pounds in the past 6-9 months).
Chin up. It's not your fault. It's just the way things are right now. No one is safe in their jobs. But you should take advantage of the time you have and get in as much excersize as you can. Nothing worse than getting called in for an interview and your clothes are too snug!!!!
I agree with the others. Do not beat yourself up thinking it is something you did that lost the job. My husband was just laid off after being with his company for nine years along with a whole department full of people. I know it is easy to let the uncertainty of what will happen next affect your resolve with your healthy lifestyle, but do not let it.
Our health insurance is through my husband's work and with my diabetes and his high blood pressure we need to get healthy because I have no idea how we are going to pay for private insurance. For the first few days after he was laid off I cried often and stopped walking, but I then realized I had no control over his employment or even my own. I do however have control over my actions. I can exercise, I can eat healthy, I can take care of my well being because it is something I can control. Once I realized this and started back into my routine I started feeling less depressed. I still get scared and sad wondering how we will do, but I am thinking positively that we will get through things and along the way I will be getting healthier.
Take this time to concentrate on your well being. Be proud of yourself for not getting the pizza, fries and burgers you would have gotten before.
Diana
Hey guys, thank you so much for the love! I really needed it. It's quite a closed-minded society in Singapore, with no unemployment benefits, and everything you do you need to pay for, which is why it's real hard to be unemployed.
I just told my mom, and she took it quite well. Honestly, I expected her to start accusing me of what I did wrong and why all my colleagues still have a job and I don't-- It has to be because I'm not working hard enough or I did something stupid.
Thank goodness she didn't say any of that. I think I would have a mental breakdown if she did. Totally opposite, she told me to take one step at a time, and that I was lucky I didn't have ten kids to support, and that everything will be okay.
I'm really thankful that my family, my friends, and even my colleagues have all been so supportive. I think I would have just died, literally, if it weren't for everyone around me.
Thank you all, really for your encouragement. Reading the posts on this thread also helped me to move on and look to a better future.
I am so sorry .I work in a hospital that has layed off over a hundred people in last 6 months, including nurses.Pretty crazy when we are laying off nurses that are already short staffed.I went thru this 11 years ago.I took the offer to be reeducated through the state workforce development.I had my tuition and daycare covered and finished my BS.It ended up being a blessing.Keep your head up and look into reeducation.You might be able to do something you have always wanted to.
awww...I was layed off from my job that i really liked in 2007..it hurt pretty badly...I was angry..but then I realized the company wasn't doing well..and it was done by seniority...I went back to school for nursing...
Well my case is worse, 1st of march 2009 was 1 year without a job
I quit my own job because I was too busy planning a wedding and getting my University diploma, and then make all arrangements to move into the states.
So, here I am, since September 2008, but because of the economy, paper delay so and so, could not get a job.
Like it wasn't enough, I gained a few pounds since I moved (and not because I am not going at the gym, because I am, but because in the rest of the day I do nothing that I would really like to = work) I have my papers now, still no job!
But I am sure I will find one eventually, it is just a matter of time. And you will find a new one too!
this is one of those big hits, for some people more stressful and difficult than a separation or divorce. BUT, in this life, there is good and bad, times of stress and difficulty, times of joy and ease. We can't choose what happens for the most part. We can only choose how we respond inside and out.
When you are ready, you can choose to pick yourself up, choose to be positive (most of the time), choose to stay on plan, and keep the weight loss or maintenance going.
It isn't easy, it may only be easy sometimes. But it is something you can do for yourself. when you are ready, you can keep doing things for you. good luck and best wishes
