Surviving a Layoff

Ryan was laid off five days ago for the second time in two years. It was completely unexpected, and with no severance. What to do?! Especially since his first layoff lasted six months and the economy had not yet tanked! There are many things to do, of course. I am focusing on the non-job-related ones for this post.

Physical Health

When Ryan got the news, I very quickly contacted Ken Morehead at Oriental Health Solutions www.orientalhealthsolutions.com to let him know. He got me through the last layoff when my heart started palpitating from stress hormone withdrawal once Ryan was employed again. To read more about Ken’s help the first time, go to this post: She who has health has hope…

Ken is most wonderful. His responses to my request for help will always make me smile. He wrote much more eloquently, but here it is in a nutshell:

• Keep eating the way you do
• Eat no sugar or caffeine – they are a big aggravation
• MOVE! Do anything. Walk, bike, run, anything
• BREATHE!
• MOVE some more!
• Burn that stuff off!
  

The stuff we are supposed to burn off is str*ss. We have banished the “s” word from our vocabulary and replaced it with “excess energy.”

Spirituality

Our last layoff greatly prepared us for this layoff. Ryan and I are the least attached, least entitled people you probably know. For example, the first time around it was with my tears and gnashing of teeth that we sold our Saturn Vue, making us a one car family. This time we celebrate that the Vue is gone. That house we were going to buy the first time around – gone. That is not supposed to happen when you are a dual masters degree family at 40! We are now grateful it did, as we are freer than ever. The house we were going to buy the second time around – gone, and we may have to move from our rental house back into an apartment. This time we are rolling with it.

The first time around our semi-wide world view quickly narrowed into one straight line of panic, fear and bewilderment that lasted for six months, with health consequences for me She who has health has hope… I would not have wanted to be around us, as our energy was awful.

This time around, our much expanded world view narrowed but stopped well before hitting one straight line. Panic, fear and bewilderment stuck around for less than 48 hours. Thank goodness Ken Morehead told us to MOVE and BREATHE! Thanks to friends watching Colson we were able to walk and walk and walk in the woods…like we never walked before. What a difference that made! And we still keep MOVING and BREATHING.

Fortunately, we began attending a Buddhist center two weeks before the layoff and started to learn how to meditate and BREATHE. What a difference that makes! I have been breathing my whole life, obviously, but I didn’t know how to use it to help me when in when in crisis! Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture We haven’t had time yet to watch Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams because we are job hunting, but we will watch it in the next few days. I fully suspect that Randy’s lecture will give us even more powerful perspective than we have now, and we are powerful! Looking for Work Anyone need a fantastic Instructional Designer/Corporate Trainer (Ryan) or a groundbreaking Environmental Planner (me)? If so, please email lrcombs@yahoo.com.

Comments

[Amy Scott]

Sending you positive energy and good vibes from one who has been there, done that.