Written by Gilbert Goh
BE Prepared For Crisis – Raise Your Adversity Quotient
One can never be overly prepared for a recession but this is of course easier say than done. Many people when they lost their jobs understandably suffered from a loss of self esteem and confidence. Some, like me, would hide away in their closet afraid to reveal themselves to the world that they are jobless. The unemployed face a sense of shame often associated with those who are useless and untalented – more of a loser. This thinking is not only erroneous but harmful to the mind.
The unemployed face a barrage of issues affecting the mind, spirit and definitely the pocket. The worse is when joblessness has no time line. There is the feeling of losing control of one’s life and that scared even the most confident person. The constant feeling of uncertainty plagued at one’s sanity and many will encounter frequent mood swing during their joblessness. It is no wonder that the extreme ones will feel suicidal with some even taking their own life to end the abject misery of facing joblessness without any hope in sight. The tunnel seems long and dark and there is no foreseeable end. It is no wonder that the dreaded R word called recession is often view with negativity and fear. People tremble when retrenchment is going on in the company and some face sleepless nights.
Those who have regularly face adversity in their life may handle joblessness better as they are seasoned and toughened by life’s ups and downs. Joblessness, to me, is more an emotional crisis than a physical one. If you are hardened by life’s adversities there is a high chance that you are better prepared to manage the emotional upheaval related to unemployment. Those who belong to the optimistic type and are proactive will also take ownership of the situation and try to create their own solutions. It is during this period that the strong and resilient find their own path thus ending their personal misery. It is widely known that many who lost their jobs went on to start businesses and some even ended up much better than they were in their previous jobs.
Once we are able to manage our emotions, it is easier for a person to go through unemployment as he is prepared and battle-readied. It is also a good gauge of how we handle adversities and some revelations may shock us as joblessness will slowly reveal the ugly self within us.
Yes, unemployment is like living in a war zone and you learn to fight the battle daily with rejected interviews, disappointment and financial turmoil. On top of that, you have to daily apply for jobs in the hope that you will find someone who will employ you. Trust me, it is tough and some I known have given up trying after sending thousands of emails for jobs, facing countless rejections over interviews and seeing their bank account dwindles by the day. It takes a a very blessed person to go through unemployment unscarred and any time frame that is less than six months is considered blessing. One suspects that those who are jobless for a few years have given up looking altogether and may even need some form of professional counseling to help them overcome certain personal inhibitions.
Those who are laid off often felt responsible that perhaps they have not perform up to the mark. This is erroneous thinking as during an economic downturn, employers lay off their workers chiefly because of an adverse economic climate and not the productivity of their staff. It is common for sales and marketing staff to be laid off on the first line of fire as sales dwindled. Consumers will hold on to cash and everything slows down especially in the retail sector when there is a recession. So when we are retrenched, the most important thing to do is not to blame ourselves too much. Being jobless is already very stressful, we don’t need to over burden ourselves unnecessarily.
When you are laid off, it is wise to immediately check how much savings you have and do a simple financial countdown basing on the worse case scenario. For example, when I was jobless I realized that I only have $20,000 left in my savings account. If I spend $1500 a month the savings can only last me 13 months. Thirteen months seemed a long time for one to stay unemployed. Sad to say I was jobless for close to 20 months and I have to resort to borrowing from friends to tide over. This is the lowest that a person can go down to and my esteem took a very hard beating from then on. It took me a long time for me to face up to my friends again.
(To be continued)
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