The threat of redundancy or other career crisis hits many of us hard, and it can come as a surprise to people who have always thought of themselves as strong and resilient suddenly to find themselves dealing with unfamiliar and unwanted feelings. Anger, fear, denial, sadness and loss are all common emotions felt by people facing redundancy. And what can make it worse is that these feelings also trigger memories of previous experiences which we associate with the same feeling. This means that as well as feeling new anger or sadness, you are also remembering any old anger or sadness from earlier in your life.
When you think of redundancy as having something in common with bereavement – after all, it is the sudden loss of a large part of your life – then these emotions are much more understandable and manageable. They are the common emotions experienced when grieving, and just like any grief, they will eventually evolve, resolve themselves and eventually fade.
In the meantime, accepting that these feelings are OK, are normal and that you are not alone can be very helpful. The worst thing that you can do is to mask your emotions through drink or drugs. Instead, evaluate what method of dealing with these emotions will work best for you. Do you prefer to talk to a trusted friend or a professional, or whether you like to burn off your emotions with strenuous exercise? Whatever method you choose, make sure that you are taking care of your emotional health as well as your physical and intellectual health in order to be in the best possible situation to move on to your next project after redundancy.
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