The last three months for me have been very challenging since I got laid-off from my dream job. I am aware that I am not the only one in this situation, and I was blessed enough to become unemployed in May unlike many other people that lost their jobs back in March.
As more and more people became unemployed, my prayer (before it got to me) was for God to help every single laid-off worker to accept the news with peace and optimism; two things that are extremely needed with this whole Coronavirus situation.
So when I got that call from my former boss and the H.R. lady, I was able to keep my crap together at least for the call’s length. I couldn’t believe that I was going through that call, that it was me being let go, me, why me?
Immediately, all my debt and payments came to my head, and I wondered “how am I gonna pay for the house, for the cars, for everything? And that train of thought isn’t helpful when you are first dealing with the “news”.
Thank God, my husband is working and hasn’t stopped a day during this whole thing; there were laid-offs at this workplace, but he was one of the very few who survived.
Instead of continue talking about the awfulness of being unemployed during this pandemic, let me tell you about how I’ve been able to cope and stay afloat the last three months:
1. Accept the news with grace: it is easier to say it than to actually do it because you don’t expect one morning to lose your job, but if that time comes, do not react. Listen and pay attention to what H.R. or your boss has to say about your position being terminated. They gave me instructions that I had to follow to fill in paperwork, documents that I had to receive, dates to submit stuff, papers I had to read, phone numbers of agencies to call, etc. Do not freak out in front of them, be as civil as you can. Even though, I wanted to hang up the phone and unleash my shock and frustration crying, I had to keep my composure in order to move forward.
2. Take a day or two to process it: I have to thank my husband for this one because he shook me out of a cycle that could have been dangerous. After 48 hours of being laid-off I was still miserable, I cried every 30 minutes or so. I lost appetite, and I had trouble falling asleep. Any thing that reminded me of work was a trigger to start sobbing unconsolably. In my case, it was hard to accept that my dream job was gone. A job that I worked and waited for a while had been cancelled just like that. It was hurtful and horrible; however, don’t let those feelings linger for too long. Cry it out no more than two days. If you continue to grow and deepen those feelings you might get sick and/or depressed and it will be harder to get out of that.
3. Apply to unemployment benefits (if applicable): make sure to get the clear with your supervisor or H.R. representative to start a claim in your state. I say this because I couldn’t apply right away, I had to wait some days until the work separation was official. I don’t know how it works in some other companies, but I was given this information the day of my laid-off notice call. As soon as I got the clear, I visited the Florida unemployment benefits page and it took me 20 minutes to fill in all the forms. Make sure to write down your pin in a safe place, and log in on the dates the system tells you to do so.
4. Update or create your resume: this piece of paper will become your best friend in the following days or months for doing your job search, and start applying to new jobs. I was (once again) blessed enough to have one of my former supervisors reviewing and updating my resume from the perspective of a manager looking for a new worker, and that helped me a lot. Of course, I had to edit it and update dates, years, layout and design. For the design part, I found so many cool and professional layouts in canva.com, I tried several of them until I picked my favorite. I have to say that this updating my resume/designing part gave me some peace and helped me to put my thoughts and energy into colors, shapes, fonts, etc, which prevented me of getting sad and cry one more time.
5. Create a routine and stick to it: the most ironic thing in my situation is having all the time in the world to sleep in and not being able to do so. Instead of getting annoyed by it, I decided to start waking up at a decent time in the morning and follow this routine:
- 7:30AM – wake up
- 8:00AM – breakfast
- 8:30AM- workout (Crossfit)
- 10:00AM – Home and recovery shake
- 10:15AM – Shower / some home chores
- 11:00AM – Job search
- 12:30PM – Snack time
- 1 – 2PM – Lunch
- 3:00PM – Netflix / writing / home chores
- 5:00PM – Another snack
- 6:30PM – Brainstorming of dinner and lunch for the following day
- 7 – 9PM – Dinner
- 9:00PM – Prepare breakfast for the following morning
- 10:00PM – Done with all stuff: Netflix or reading
- 11:00PM – ZZZ
It is not the funnier and greatest routine, but it had helped me cope and stay sane all these months. You can create and establish your own routine, the idea is to know what to do next and stay busy.
6. Start your job search: with your resume ready, start looking for your next job. I visit daily indeed.com – I have some keyword searches saved on my indeed account, which updates everyday when a new job is posted. I go through all of them, and take my time to read the jobs that interest me and apply to them. Linkedin has also been a source of interesting jobs to apply to, and sometimes the jobs posted on Linkedin are not posted on Indeed. Contact by phone, email or text your colleages or people in your work field and let them know you are available to work. I write down in my planner the jobs that I had applied to keep a record of it.
7. Start a challenge: any type of challenge, now it’s the best moment to do it because you are at home and you have the time. It can be small fixes inside your house or apartment, learning how to cook or bake something (baking was my favorite thing to unwind for a while), drinking more water, work out challenges, learning a new language or you can do what I am doing: a three-month nutrition challenge. It’s been hard, but it has kept me busy between the cooking, measuring ingredients, looking up healthier recipes. So far, I’ve lost almost 9 pounds and tons of fat.
8. Take online courses: this has been a very cool feature of my being-laid-off-of-work life, I am back to school! Well, not really but it feels like. I signed up to coursera.com – it is a website with tons of FREE online courses from different schools and colleges AND different topics. You can pay a fee to get the official certification or diploma of the course you take, but I prefer the free version (trying to save as much money as I can). So far, I have taken two courses, at my pace and it has been a great learning experience. I have also worked in my French with Duolingo, again the free version, it only takes 5 minutes, and it makes me feel cool and accomplished.
9. Stay positive: now more than ever our attitude towards life is a decisive factor in order to move on and even to survive. We don’t know when the pandemic will be controlled and gone; for that reason it is our job (now that we don’t have one) to stay positive and hopeful. Of course that there are bad days, I have experienced one or many of them; days when I started questioning everything and doubting myself, but I cut up those feelings and thoughts right away. When I start to feel down, I tell myself out loud: “you are gonna get through this, you will find an amazing job, you are so worthy”. It also helps me to talk it out with my husband or somebody I trust.
These nine things, activities, tips, whatever you want to call it, have helped me to stay away from negative thoughts and attitudes that could impact my well-being and my relationships. Feel free to suggest another tip, I am here to listen or to read your thoughts and opinions. Do not let this situation bring you down, we will get through this.
Hello, I am Vanessa Brito 
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