This is not freedom

I have kept in touch with many former co-workers through Facebook or email. Some of them have already found jobs. Most, like me, are still looking and praying that the job search doesn't take too long. We often forward each other links to jobs we find on the Internet. Looking out for each other like that is an example of true friendship, and I appreciate every one of them.

One thing that I've heard more than one person say after they were laid off was, "I feel liberated!" or "I feel set free!" I understand where they're coming from, but I just don't feel the same way. If their old job was so terrible that getting laid off was liberating, then they were there for too long with too little reason. There is no liberation in being let go from a job you've held for years and knew inside and out. There is no freedom in having to scrape and scramble every day to find another job.

I had expected to be angry at some point. I had expected to feel betrayed. Bitter. I can say with complete honesty that I am none of those. I'd like to think I'm better than that. It certainly does you no good whatsoever to hang onto those feelings and let them take over. It's a trip on a downhill slide that I won't be taking.

From the very first day, my only thought was "How do I fix this?" Not "woe is me," or "how could they do this to me?" That's pointless. As Stephanie Lyon said at a recent Job Seekers meeting, "The past is the past and there's nothing you can do to change it. The future is a clean slate." 

This may sound very Capitalistic of me, but liberation will come when I find another job. Freedom will come when I know that I can pay my bills.