How To Survive Getting Fired?

Losing a job doesn’t have to mean a monetary crisis. Chirag Mohanty Samal draws up a checklist to help you get up and make it through.

- Chirag Mohanty Samal

Losing your job is hard. There’s no two ways about that. It hits you harder, however, when it catches you off-guard. There might be a few who manage to keep their chin up and get through it. Many slip into depression, though, because it’s not just a financial loss, it’s also a loss of one’s identity. You feel humiliated, vulnerable, frustrated and angry. Studies corroborate the fact that these emotions running amok in your head over a period of time can cause mental health problems.

Research reported in the Journal of Vocational Behavior found that unemployed people were twice as likely to suffer from psychological problems (34 per cent, compared to 16 per cent for the employed). Meanwhile, a study conducted by the University of Michigan and published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology brought to light the alarming fact that the emotional fallout of losing your job can last up to two years.