Coping with the Emotional Impact of a Layoff

 

Ouchitya Karan || Gurgaon, 05.Feb.23

Emotional Effects of Being Laid Off

Being laid off can be an overwhelming and stressful experience of loss and change. For some people, a layoff could be a welcome relief from a difficult job situation or looked at as potential for moving on in their life. But for others a job loss can have a significant emotional impact. While people deal with change and stress in many different ways, the following is a short list of possible emotional, psychological and physical responses that one may experience.

EMOTIONAL REACTIONS

• Anxiety
• Shock/Disbelief
• Irritability
• Anger
• Frustration
• Resistance
• Sadness
• Fear
• Loss of enjoyment or appreciation
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Loss of self esteem
• Shame

PHYSICAL REACTIONS

• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Weight loss/gain
• Sleep disturbance
• Upset stomach
• Muscle pain
• Nausea

Tips for Coping

Maintain Supportive Relationships

• Talk with friends and family and let important people in your life know what is going on
• Accepting help and support from people who care about you and will listen to you can help a lot. Keeping secrets is very stressful and for most people having support and empathy is very helpful in moving through this emotional time.

Take Care of Your Body

• Exercise is an important antidote for stress
• Being mindful about your eating and sleeping are important in trying to keep yourself functioning as well as possible

Nurture Yourself

• Do something everyday that helps you feel good. This is a time to be compassionate with yourself and to utilize stress reducing tools that help you to feel calm.
• Try taking a walk, taking a warm bath, talking with someone you trust, meditating, praying, listening to music or anything else that helps you to feel relaxed.

Write

• Write down your ideas, thoughts and feelings
• Writing can be a very useful way to vent negative feelings as well as clarify issues that you might be struggling with
• Journaling, writing in letter form, even list making can help to keep your head clear

Keep a Positive Mental Attitude

• Stay aware of the messages that you are giving yourself. If you notice you are having self-critical thoughts (e.g., “I will never have a good job again”, “I feel worthless”), it is important to observe this and to tell yourself to stop doing it. These thoughts are unhelpful and make us feel worse.
• We can not always be in control of what happens to us – in fact, often how we handle what happens to us is the only thing we can control.
• Remember that nothing ever stays the same, and tell yourself “this too shall pass”
• Maintain a hopeful outlook and visualise what you want rather than worrying about what you fear

And don’t forget, this is just lay off not end of life…!!!