Business Travel

You lost your job, walked away, were laid off or are afraid you will be laid off your job. The first thing you do is react; probably emotionally. Maybe you are angry, scared, panicked, worried, or even relieved. For a lot of people, they think there must be some sequence of how they are supposed to feel or react to losing a job.

Realize that what you do when you lose a job – is feel what you feel. It doesn’t matter if you quit, if you were fired, if you were a victim of downsizing or what the reason was. The bottom line is the same however how each person handles it may not be. And that’s okay.

Consider the array of emotions that can be chosen from and acted upon during a time of loss or stress:

- There are the familiar stages of grief, proposed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (which included denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). The loss of a job is as much of a loss as any other significant event such as death of a loved one so it’s not a huge surprise that most people will experience this phase of emotions; probably pretty close to the beginning of the process

- Mood swings which offer a cornucopia of emotions from sadness to happiness to confusion to anxiety and pretty much everything in between. Typically these won’t be as intense as the stages will probably be. But while the stages of grief are often pretty intense (for instance, the anger stage can seem more like rage and the depression stage could be as serious as considering doctor’s assistance), usually mood swings are less severe and are moved through and between a bit faster.

- Fear plays a part – fear of success, of failure, and of losing everything

- Gratitude and holding on to the things we do have

- Relief and excitement at finally reaching the end of the journey as you accept that job offer and get back on your way.

There are over a hundred different emotions (generally broken down into positive and negative). So you can easily see how it’s possible to go through a wide range during a tough time. Yet the most important thing during this time and when you have emotions during the process is to accept yourself and avoid self-judgment. Having emotions helps with the healing process when worked through rather than fought. So try to give yourself a break and allow yourself the gift of emotions.