I have lost my job. What do I do? 1
6th Apr 2009
Hello lovely people
Step 1: Breathe deeply and relax. Count your blessings.
Step 2: Do not take it personally, but take it very personally.
Step 3: Celebrate the next cycle of your life
I can hear you saying “There are bills to be paid. There is an ego that needs massaging. How will I cope until I can find another job during a time of recession? And she says I should relax and celebrate?”
Yes, I am serious about my advice, which comes from first-hand experience.
Many years ago I worked for a company. I was not a good match for them because I had skills that were superior to the skills of others in the company. I did an excellent job, but the frustration of having to negotiate around the limitations that were imposed on me was difficult to manage. I was made redundant. On paper the company put forward a convincing argument about staff reductions. Because I was new to the company, I was top of the list. Everyone knew that this was an unfair decision. I was not in a position of power and had to accept the decision.
At the time I had four degrees and years of excellent experience. I was used to going for interviews and being offered a job because I was inevitably the best candidate. Imagine my surprise when I went for nearly fifty interviews without a single job offer. The even bigger surprise was that I earned more money from short-term work during those few months of “unemployment” than from a salary while being employed. I was well taken care of financially. I slowly realised that there was much more to the situation than met the eye.
I was right. My next job opened doors to an international career. I was put in charge of a project that was ground-breaking in the company and the industry at the time. I had no qualifying previous experience. There was no logical reason to give me the responsibility. I learned much from it and gained skills that I would otherwise not even have considered exploring. The implementation was completed in time and on budget, and everyone was quite satisfied with the outcome. Guess what my reward was: redundancy, because there was no similar project for me to move on to.
This time round I already knew that I would be taken care of. The company broke every law in the book while making me redundant. Somehow it was as if they could not stop themselves. During the day I threatened them with legal action because they were breaking the law, and they offered me more money to pacify me and convince me to leave. At night I relaxed, had a good laugh about all the posturing at work and planned my next steps, with no concern in the world. It was wonderful to be able to detach myself from the situation and become an observer. I received confirmation of my intuition daily and found it so enriching.
To be continued.
Please leave a comment if you feel inspired.
Love and Light
Elsabe
