Getting Laid Off Taught Me How to Cope With Breakups
By Allie Volpe
It was a Wednesday in November and I was crying in the middle of a mall. Such public displays of emotion aren’t typically my style, but I’d just been blindsided by an “It’s not you, it’s me” conversation, one that ended a two-year partnership. Passersby stared as I managed to choke out a few words over the phone to my mother, who was offering positive assurances that I’d move on from this, that I deserved better. But aside from the fact that my waterproof mascara was holding up impressively well through the deluge of tears, I didn’t feel superior to anyone — I felt really dumb, and it wasn’t because I was alone, crying in a mall.
I’d just been dumped by my employer. It was my first layoff.
Plenty of American workers are already familiar with the pain that comes from losing a job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 1.6 million layoffs and discharges this past December, proving that the phenomenon of layoff season is alive and well. For me, though, the feeling was a new one.
Except, as it slowly began to dawn on me, maybe it wasn’t: The emotions I experienced after the layoff were eerily similar to the anguish I’d felt after past breakups. I sat around ruminating…
