Managing Job-Loss Stress

Losing your job can leave you worried about your options.

Managing job-loss stress means figuring out how to pay your bills, face your family, and get another job. Losing a job generates feelings of helplessness, anger, frustration, and fear. The first thing to recognize, however, is that losing a job is not the end of everything.

Managing Job-Loss Stress At Home

It's not unusual for losing a job to cause feelings of relief, devastation, loss, anger, and even a moderate amount of happiness. When you lose your job, the responsibility for sticking it out for good or for bad is taken away from you. If you really hated your job, then losing it can actually provoke feelings of happiness and relief amidst the concern.

It's important to recognize that it's okay to have those feelings. It's normal to run the gamut of emotions because a job provides financial security, a place to go every day, and it's a part of your routine. Losing it means that you're going to have to change the way you do things and you're going to have to look for another job.

Grieving the Job

It's perfectly natural to go through the stages of grief (shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) when you lose a job. Shock is always the first because you can't believe it's happening to you, even if you wanted it to happen and you wanted that impetus to do something else. It's a shock to be told "we don't need you anymore." Denial and anger are fast responses because most people need their jobs, they need to know that paycheck is coming. You may achieve bargaining amidst those emotions if you feel there is wiggle room with your boss. Maybe they will keep you on in a different position or maybe if you prove your worth, they won't lay you off.The final stages, depression and acceptance, happen when you pack up your cubicle or your office and take your personal things home. This is the stage where recognition that you won't have that paycheck to count on strikes. This is a time when you will be vulnerable, so let yourself feel the emotions, but don't wallow in them.

Coping with the Stress

Take a day or two and treat them as though they are days off. You have been laid off or let go from your job and your body will be reacting to the emotional and mental stress. Your heart rate will be up, you will perspire; you will have a headache and stomachache. So take a couple of days to just breathe and work on managing job-loss stress so you can be clear headed about your options. You need to look for another job, but it's better to relieve the stress before you start the job hunting process.

Practice relaxation techniques during your couple of off days. Consider it a small vacation or an extended weekend.

  • Exercise - Hit the gym. If you haven't been exercising because you've been busy with work, this is a great time to go ahead and get back on the treadmill so to speak.
  • Sleep - Get eight to ten solid hours of sleep per night. It's not unusual to cut back on sleep because you're up early and going to bed late. Let your body rest and recharge your mind.
  • Meditate - Meditation is a proven relaxation technique that quiets the mind and lets you focus on what you need to do.
  • Talk - Talk to your friends, your family, and your spouse. Connect with the people you love and who love you. Relationships can be fantastic stress relievers if we let the people we care about there be there for us.
  • Plan - After your couple of days, start planning. You'll need a resume and you're going to have to decide what kind of job you want.

Find a Job

Now that you're ready to look for a job, check out LoveToKnow Jobs for information on finding a new job, updating your resume, or getting started with your own business.