Fear grows in shadows.
Shine a light on it. You fear losing your job? Picture it. Imagine the fallout. What will you do next? That’s the most important part. Now, take action. Save money. Build skills. Prepare. Suddenly, losing the job seems smaller. You anticipated it. You robbed it of its power. It’s not about living in negativity.
—Thomas Oppong
This quote reminds me of a post I wrote in 2007, when I first started blogging:
What I Learned From Being Downsized
I’ve been studying/practicing personal development most of my life, and got into stress management about 16 years ago, when my husband and I were both threatened with downsizing. It was scary, but also one of the happiest times of my life.
My husband and I worked in different divisions of the same company and drove to and from work together. When we got in the car at night we would share stories about the latest idiocies of management and laugh. And we would discuss our options for the future. It was a shared adventure.
🙂 I take full credit for marrying someone who would do well in a crisis. I cheerfully admit this doesn’t sound very romantic, but if you believe marriage is for the long haul, not just temporary excitement, pick someone who will weather adversity well. You won’t be sorry.
Anyway, we both liked what we were doing, so we decided to make the most of our present jobs while they lasted. I had been working about 60 hours a week and dropped that down to 40. I had a lot of autonomy at work, which I loved, so I kept developing my writing, programming and people skills. In my new free time I joined a second Toastmaster’s Club and became certified in NLP (neurolinguistic programming).
When I looked around the division I asked myself one of my favorite questions, “What’s the opportunity here?” The answer, of course, was to become an expert in stress management. So that became another part of the adventure.
As it turned out, our jobs lasted another couple of years, when we were offered great severance packages. By then I was already prepared for my next great adventure, teaching/leading groups in stress management.
So, what did I learn from the experience?
- Be optimistic and have a sense of humor
- Always keep learning and growing
- Be patient and bide your time when it’s appropriate
- Generate new ideas and opportunities for yourself
- Enjoy the adventure of life and have friends to share it with
What about you? What life lessons would you like to share? This site is about sharing, so please tell us your thoughts in the comment section.
I have to laugh when I read this. I had so much more energy when I wrote this post over 16 years ago, let alone when the story happened over 32 years ago. I think our lives are in for big changes in the near future, but we still don’t waste time worrying about it. And we still laugh a lot and don’t fuss when problems come up, we just plug along and deal with them and enjoy what we have while we still have it. I don’t feel nearly as adventuresome now as I did then, but if anything I’m happier. It’s just quieter and less energetic than it was then.
What about you?
March 17, 2025
I liked reading this post because it lets me know more about you from your past and how you got to where you are now..
What a wonderful post. Thank you.
God bless.
Excellent post. I spent a lot of years worrying about what might happen. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to go with the flow a little bit more. When I knew that my job was ending I made the decision not to panic or worry. I would deal with whatever happened when it happened. It’s made the transition into unemployment much easier and I’m actually enjoying it now.
…amen sister.
Great post here…I will admit that I once was BIG time worrier. Now I refer to stress as Concerns. (does this count for improving my worrying?). I agree..it is great to have a spouse who deals with life in a completely different way from the way I used to deal with it. Now, my concerns are more for my grandkids…Prayers for them sure keeps me in a good place. Happy St. Patricks day….