Dear dejected, rejected, unprotected . . .

A love letter to anyone who has ever been laid off, let go, or involuntarily unemployed.

There are no words that can comfort completely. There are no silver-tongued solutions.

Today I just wanna say I see you.

Today I just wanna say I am one of you.

I don’t say “I’ve been there.”

Because once experienced, forever in your being.

I am there, still.

The moment is a fracture in your timeline. The mind and body separate and hover apart. In that moment when you half-hear, “I have some bad news.” Or some other softening words.

But the initial blow is never hard-hitting. It’s soft because it moves through you like it isn’t meant for you.

It floats around the ever-thickening air.

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The news delivered, there’s no right way to move to the next.

What is “the next”? What does that even mean?

You were moving and now you’ve stopped. You were everywhere in a space familiar and now you’re nowhere. The unfamiliar. The unwanted.

Driven by achieving, each new isolated-mind-borne revelation feels simultaneously productive and corroding.

I picked the wrong industry.

I picked the wrong company.

I picked the wrong people.

I was the wrong pick.

I shouldn’t have spent money on this thing.

I shouldn’t have spent money on that thing.

I shouldn’t have spent money.

I failed my family.

I failed my leaders.

I failed my team.

I failed.

There’s cruelty in the list of things they say to do. Sign this, turn in that, transfer this, initiate that. Forced transitions. Forced submission.

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Talk. Talking will help. You talk and feel numb. You numb and feel talk.

Make a mental list. First thing, risk.

“Cancel everything!” Keep my Netflix?

Distract yourself with helping others. Then climb back under the covers.

A month goes by, glimmers of hope.

Two months go by, the fog starts to fade.

Normal still feels a long ways away.

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You start something new.

Your foundation feels faulty.

“Everyone is so nice!” Like they were, right before.

You carry suspicion ever so subtle. You try not to reveal too much, get attached, get real.

You try to let it go. But deep down you know.

You’ll forever be one moment away from feeling

dejected, rejected, unprotected.

P.S. It never leaves you but it does get better. How can I help?

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