I shook for two days ... then sprang into action
for me, it was like falling off a cliff. it was only after i left the office that i started shaking. i didn’t stop for two days.
first, there’s the shock. Then there’s the shame. Then there’s the panic. your head is a jangled mass of thoughts. failure! fear! Bills!
This, at any rate, is how it was for me when i lost my job seven years ago, at the age of 49. it had taken me a long, long time to get a staff job as a writer and columnist on a national paper. i was single and didn’t have a family; work was my world.
losing a job is a bereavement. you will rage, you will panic, you will grieve and you will worry, because losing a job is no picnic at the best of times and we can safely say that a pandemic isn’t one of those.
Allow yourself a few days of grieving, then kick into action. get up at the same time every day. exercise, eat well and try to develop a good sleep routine, because you are now in training for a marathon.
you will need to look at your situation, or get other people to help you take a look, with cool eyes.
Are you in an industry that’s likely to recover and need your skills again?
if not, will you need to get new ones? Who can help you? is there any free online training?
get on with claiming benefits! This is no time to be proud.
When i lost my job, i learnt how my journalistic skills could be of use to other companies. for example, i wrote a report into the state of global dementia research for a charity.
i sometimes work for people half my age. i earn less than i earned before, but the kind of job i did before has pretty much gone. And now that i’m freelance, i have my freedom.
Trust me, i know how hard it is to lose a job. But it is not the end of the world.
Christina Patterson is the author of the art of not Falling apart and host of the podcast Work interrupted: rethinking Work in a Pandemic.