STRESS Due To Losing A JOB? – 7 Steps To OVERCOME It
Having a job is definitely a matter of pride, right? In addition to not being labeled as unemployed, you have the income to meet everyday life. However, life does not always run smoothly. You might have made a mistake at work, was reprimanded by a boss, or the worst possibility is to be fired. Well, losing this job often causes stress or depression. Then, how to get rid of stress due to loss of livelihood so that it doesn’t keep getting worse?
Stress Due To Losing A JOB? – Overcome It by Doing These 7 Steps
Work is more than just the way we make a living. It’s also more than just job satisfaction. Work affects how we see ourselves, and how others see us. Work gives us the structure, purpose, and meaning of life. That’s why losing your job and being unemployed is one of the things that stress you the most.
Apart from losing a source of income, losing a job can also cause other losses, some of which can be very difficult to deal with:
– lost your professional identity
– lost of self-esteem and self-confidence
– lost your daily routine
– lost of work-based network
– lost your sense of security
How to get rid of stress due to job loss
To lose a job can affect many aspects of one’s life. Ranging from family economic problems, health, to social life. Yes, this means that your income will be lost and your status as an employee, supervisor, or other position is also invalid.
Coupled with your responsibilities to the family. This makes you feel guilty, angry, disappointed and lost. As a result, you will be stressed, frustrated, depressed, and even trying to commit suicide. Well, there are a number of things you can do to reduce stress from stopping work, including:
1. Calm yourself
After losing your job, don’t allow yourself to continue to panic with bad possibilities that don’t necessarily occur. Like not sure to get another job as soon as possible, feel ashamed to be unemployed, or feel like a failure and give up.
The first thing you need to do is calm down. Being too panicked in this situation won’t help at all. You’ll get anxiety, be in a hurry to make a decision, and finally, you’ll make a wrong decision.
To lose a job is not the end of everything. Even though it’s not easy, you can still find another job. Do not be provoked to compare your condition to others. This will only worsen your mental condition. In this situation, you need to be a strong person that is able to motivate yourself to rise from adversity.
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2. Don’t keep it to yourself
Even though losing your job is not good news, you need to tell this to your family or people you trust. Trying to cover this up from people near you will not be good for health and relationships with those closest to you.
This will make you feel calmer and lighter because they will try to understand the condition and support you. In addition, the people closest to you about this problem can also help you find other work.
3. Don’t mind negative comments
In addition to avoiding negative thoughts in yourself, you should also avoid people who are toxic, for example, people who only give negative comments to you.
Try to get closer to people who are confident, hardworking, and willing to give constructive advice. This positive environment can help you relieve stress and be free from depression.
4. Write about your feelings in the journal
Use journals to write and express everything you feel about being laid off or unemployed, including things you want to say (and don’t want to say) to your ex-boss. This is especially painful if termination occurs hastily. At least by writing it down, you’ll let go the feelings that are buried deep down inside of you so it won’t be bottled up too long that will create a new problem in the future (meltdown, anger issue, etc.)
5. Don’t blame yourself
It’s easy to start criticizing or blaming yourself when you have lost your job or become unemployed. However, it is important for us to avoid sadness. We will need full confidence when we want to find a new job. Challenge every negative thought that passes through our minds. When we start thinking “I am a loser,” say the opposite (I lost my job because of the recession, not because of poor work performance.)
6. Look for the lesson learned
To lose a job will be easier if you can find valuable lessons from this experience. What can I learn from this experience? Maybe losing your job and being unemployed can give you time to reflect on what you are really looking for in your life and to rethink what your priorities and real-life goals are. That kind of thought would help us to stay strong.
7. Consult a doctor and take care of your health
Stress or depression due to job loss is not always something you can deal with on your own. Although in the end you alone must be able to relieve stress, you still need the guidance of a doctor. Not just treatment, your doctor will tell you other ways to relieve the stress you face.
During the treatment period, you must pay attention to your physical health and lifestyle so that you recover faster. Once things have started to improve, you can return to actively looking for work or using a community network to get a new job.
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We Stress Free does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. However, if you need someone to talk to and want to make friends, please feel free to reach me at ferra@westressfree.com. If you would like to REDUCE your STRESS and are interested to do an ONLINE THERAPY, you can do so here.
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Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
Thank you for reading today’s topic: STRESS Due To Losing A JOB? – 7 Steps To OVERCOME It
Losing a job is one of my biggest worries and many people are currently living this nightmare due to the current pandemic that has gripped the world by the throat. This post has been quite informative on the topic and I also agree that blaming oneself is going to cause more harm than good. When laid off work, the best thing to do is to try to maintain positivity and keep one’s head up until the next job is secured.
Hello,
Yes, I agree with you.Positive thinking is important to get through a hard time like losing a job. In my opinion, we should see things in a bright side because we want to keep ourselves together and don’t want to lose motivation to try new opportunities that might be better and bring a better future for us.
Thanks for your comment. Glad you found this article useful. Hope others will say the same,
Cheers,
Ferra
It is very important that in life, we try to look at the positive side of every negative side like on this case, when a person loses their job, there is no point in stressing it. Pick up from where you stopped, learn some lessons, don’t blame it on yourself and move on. In this period when people are already losing their jobs, this post serves as a very valuable one for people. I need to share it.
Hi Riley,
Thank you for your kind words and comment.
Yes, looking at things in the bright side is one of the right responses in getting through a hard time like losing a job. No one wants to be in this position but sometimes things happen due to something we don’t have control about. We should pay our attention to the way we respond to it and control our emotions. This too shall pass. We’ll find a better opportunity.
That is so kind of you. Sharing is caring. Hopefully this article can help others too.
Cheers,
Ferra
Hi,
I find I have lost my job. It’s not quite as easy as the steps make out sometimes.
Or that is what you make yourself believe. If you start to ask for help though it does help.
I am lucky that I have the support around me.
I hope others can get the help they need too.
Hi Alan,
I am happy that you have a strong support system around you. You’re lucky. Embrace that, because there are many people out there who live alone and far from their family and friends but couldn’t find help during this difficult times. I, myself, am someone who can’t live without the support of people around me, so I can’t imagine what you are going through with losing a job without the support from the loved ones. At least with their support, it is not super difficult for us to get through this and we can stay motivated to try new opportunities that might bring us to a better future.
Thanks for your comment. Hope you’ll find something you are passionate about and turn it to be a life changing job you’ll thank for in the future. 🙂
Cheers,
Ferra
These are great tips that will help so many. I particularly like the ones: Don’t keep it to yourself (it’s usually the biggest thing that people want to do but as you’ve shown, is so important not to), and keeping a journal. I find writing down your thoughts and feelings is so invaluable.
Hello Emma,
Yes I agree with you, when we keep our feelings bottled up and don’t find an outlet to express it and let it out, it would be bad. It’s like a time bomb that is lurking to ruin our life.
Glad you found this article useful. Hope others will say the same.
Stay safe, happy and healthy!
Ferra
Losing one’s job can really be painful and could cause a lot of stress for us as individuals. To be honest, I am not really into all these but I have seen someone losing their job and the effects it has on them. Thank you so much for sharing these tips here. I really appreciate this and hopefully, things would turn out good when this is tried out. Thank you
Hello Ella,
Yes, this is certainly a very sensitive topic right now other than the COVID-19 itself. No one likes to lose their job, their source of income to pay for all their needs. Hopefully, things will get better soon and that government will have a strategic economic relief plan that will enable us to stand on our feet fast and so starting over won’t be too hard for everybody.
Thank you for your comment. I really appreciate it.
Stay safe, happy and healthy!
Cheers,
Ferra
I’ve been reading your article about job loss and stress. I so agree with you, losing your job can be very stressful. You list “loss of identity” as a component and I certainly agree with that. Even job loss due to retirement reasons creates a problem with loss of identify and sometimes self worth as well. I retired early from my career because of my job situation and environment and even with my decent pension, I have experienced a loss of identity and self satisfaction and accomplishment. Losing a job for other reasons would make this even worse. Fortunately I have never experienced a job layoff or loss other than my early retirement due to health issues and a bad job environment due to issues with my supervisor. Your steps of 1) calm yourself; 2) Sharing the loss with others; 3) avoiding negative/toxic people; 4) journaling your feelings; 5) not blaming yourself; 6) looking for lessons to be learned and 7) seeing a doctor if you are experiencing too much stress are all very good things to do to help cope with the stress and emotional impact of job loss. A nice article with some very good advice there. Thanks. -Shirley
Hello Shirley,
Thank you for your kind comment. I am glad you found this article useful. I hope it can help others who lost their job getting their motivations back and won’t be afraid to start again.
Yes, I agree. It is very stressful and losing one’s identity is horrible. Some people might find it hard to recover from it. I have never experienced it myself too but I’ve seen family and friends who did.
I hope you enjoy retirement and your health is improving.
Take care. Stay safe, happy and healthy!
Ferra