How to Handle Unemployment Anxiety

How to Handle Unemployment  Anxiety

https://www.restoredminds.com/5-Rules-For-Recovery

https://www.restoredminds.com/anxiety-assessments

In this episode, I discuss Anxiety and Unemployment. The economic impact of COVID-19 has resulted in a large number of people losing their jobs. Now life during a global pandemic is stressful enough, but when you add more layers of problems (like financial uncertainty) into the mix, it’s no wonder we are seeing a dramatic spike in mental health issues across the board. Now I speak from experience when I say that losing a job can seem like the end of the world, especially when it happens unexpectedly. 

But it is critical to maintain perspective and realize that this moment is simply the end of that chapter of your life and is by no means the end of your story. So in this episode, I will be sharing my experiences with job loss and bouncing back from it. I’ll also share some additional tips to help you through this transitional stage. Finally, if you are currently in this transitional period yourself, always remember that better opportunities are available and will cross your path, it is your job to be positive, persistent, and to maintain hope until they do.

TRANSCRIPT

(00:07):

All right. Hello and welcome to another episode of the restored mind show. My name is Matt Codde and thank you so much for tuning in today. And on this episode, we're going to be starting a new series on anxiety and work. And in this episode specifically, we're going to be talking about anxiety and unemployment. Now at the time of this, um, episode, you know, there's a lot of people that have been losing work due to COVID-19 in the Corona virus. And so I've been getting a lot of questions about that, but obviously this is applicable to any time that, um, you know, you find yourself in transitions between jobs. And so, um, I want to talk about this idea of, uh, you know, transitioning to being unemployed. So, um, you know, a lot of times when, when someone finds themselves unemployed, a lot of times it happens suddenly, right.

(00:58):

You know, um, you know, I myself have gone through transitions, um, you know, where I was with a company once and they just lost funding. And then they kind of told me that at a certain date, I was going to be, you know, my essentially position was going to be eliminated. I've also had times where, you know, the entire department I was in, you know, just got cleaned out one day. Right. And, you know, these sudden transitions can be very stressful because, you know, you're used to having a certain steady income and then all of a sudden you, you know, have a meeting and then that's done. Right. And it happens like that. And when you find yourself, um, in, in these obviously a variety of motions are going to come on. Right. And, um, the first thing that I would really, I want to tell you, if this is something that you're going through is that first thing you need to remember is that it's not the end of the world. It's the end of that job. All right. And, and it's so, so important because a lot of times when you have these huge shifts that happen, especially if it's something beyond your control, you know, like, you know, they just came in and said, Hey, we're going to get rid of your department.

(02:05):

You know, it can feel like the end of the world, right. Especially if you're someone who has, you know, if you have other people that rely on, you know, if you're in a relationship or you have children that can just add to the, uh, the stress and all the, all the feelings that are gonna come up during that time. And because it's not the end of the world, and it's just the end of this job, you need to remember to kind of keep some perspective, as hard as that might be. Right. And, you know, there's going to be all these emotions that come up. So, um, you know, point number one is to just remember the idea that it's not the end of the world. And number two is to just stay out of your head. You know? Um, one of the things that's really easy to do is just to let the emotions that you're experiencing overtake you, right?

(02:52):

So you might feel angry, you know, you might feel anxious or depressed or guilty. I mean, you know, who knows a variety of feelings, right. And they're going to just surge to the surface, but we know that, you know, we, we don't make good choices when we're emotional. Right. And so a lot of times people jump to this idea of, well, I'm gonna take revenge on this guy, or, you know, this, this and this. And, and, you know, um, one thing, one thing that you'll find is that the emotions will rise, right. And that will happen. But over time they will subside, right? Because emotions are always temporary. Right. And that's how we know we aren't our emotions. Right. There's something that surfaces and, you know, subsides, and we're the constant that experiences them. Right. You know, just like in that video, you are not your thoughts.

(03:43):

Um, or that training that I did, um, you know, that idea of being, being separate from your emotions and realizing that there's something that you experienced is really, really critical. So, you know, being able to stay out of your head and not get consumed by the emotions, it doesn't mean don't feel them, right. There's a difference. It's not that we're not feeling our emotions, it's that we're not letting them overtake us and control our behavior. Right. And we're still staying, you know, constant and living to our values. Right. Because a lot of times, you know, these sudden changes, what can happen is people can get use this and pray and let it propel them down a very bad path. Right. And that's not what we want for you. Right. What we want is for you to take this and essentially grow from this situation. And that's going to lead me to the next point where, you know, the, the, the best thing you can do, if you find yourself unemployed, is to learn from that situation, whatever happened and make any necessary shifts.

(04:38):

Right. So I remember one time, you know, one of the things that I had to learn was that w uh, when I, when I, um, my position got essentially defunded, so to speak, right. Um, is that, look, I put all my eggs in one basket, you know, like I had one stream of income, right. And then that stream of income got cut off. And it wasn't because necessarily I did anything. It was just the thing where it was like that stream income got cut off and, you know, they lost funding. And then all of a sudden it's like, Hey, you know, I'm out. And I put myself in a situation where I had one stream income. And that was, that was a thing that I really learned from. And I ever since that time, it was always like, I need to have multiple streams of income.

(05:23):

And maybe that's just a simple lesson you can take from this experience is just, okay. Not, not just relying on one stream, you know, I say, I think most, uh, you know, people that have, uh, that are millionaires have at least like seven streams of income, right. You know, having multiple streams of income allows you, the, the, at least the safety net of saying, okay, well, if this one stops, at least I have this, right. And that can be a side hustle. It can be, you know, investments, it can be, you know, I mean, a variety of things, right. Maybe, you know, in this series all might, um, I might do some, uh, another, um, video where, or another episode where we can talk more about different side hustles in ways that, you know, you can just make, make income. Right. Um, the other thing is, is like, look, if you did make a mistake, um, learn from it.

(06:10):

You know, it's like, we're human. We all make mistakes. I've made mistakes at jobs. I've gotten hot headed. I've gotten, um, you know, and, and I, and I've said things I shouldn't have said, you know, I've, I've made so many mistakes. Right. Um, and the thing is, is if you are, if you find yourself in a place of union transition in between jobs, learn from whatever it is that got you there, you know, whatever it is, it doesn't necessarily, it's not necessarily good or bad. It's just a lesson, right. It's just something that you're learning and then help and use it to help you grow. Don't take it and let it destroy you. Right. Um, cause I, cause I have seen that happen to, you know, sometimes it's like someone loses a job for whatever reason and it can just take them down. Right. They, they, they lose their whole sense of self and that's, um, that then that's another thing you can learn from it.

(07:02):

Right. You know, what you do for a living is not your identity. Right. And I think that that's a thing that people do sometimes is they over identify with their career right now, you know, like I work in mental health. Right. And I, you know, obviously I do stuff where podcasts and online and in trainings and restored minds. Right. My wife and I run that. But at the end of the day, I'm separate than that. Right. And maintaining that separate ness, you know, so to speak and being like, okay, like this isn't who I am. It's what I do. And when you're over identified with your job and you lose a job, it's, it's, it's no wonder people go into these like identity crisis. Right. And, um, and just, and, and so the figuring out what it is you can learn. Right. Because if the goal of life is to grow into the best version of yourself, right.

(07:50):

The best you possible. And that's like, and that's what we aim to achieve in life. Well, you're going to have to have hard times, right. Growth comes through the growth comes through pain, you know? So if you're in a stressful situation or in an anxiety provoking situation yes. Like of course, you know, it's going to suck in some sometimes. I mean, it just is. I mean, just to be transparent, but that doesn't mean that you can't learn from an, he can't grow from it and trust that you can grow from it and that, and that's something we'll go to, will come from it. And then, um, and that kind of leads me to my last two points here is that, you know, to keep, keep yourself in a regular routine. I think one of the things people do when they, um, when they're in a transition phase like that is they can get thrown out of whack and they're just daily routine.

(08:39):

Right. So then maybe they start sleeping until noon and stop working out, stop doing laundry, stop eating well and, and just kind of self low, then just let themselves go. Right. And in all sorts of different directions, maybe they drink too much, you know, or smoke too much or whatever. Right. And keeping yourself in a routine is important. Because again, if you don't have a job, then your job is getting a job, you know, or, or figuring out what you're going to do. Right. Like that, that becomes your job. Okay. And keeping yourself in a routine where you're waking up, you're putting out, um, applications, you're connecting, you're using your network of resources. And we'll talk about in probably the next episode of, um, you know, what you can do specifically. And just some strategies, some simple strategies you can do. Um, but you're doing things right.

(09:28):

And you're staying in a routine. You're not just sitting there and bingeing Netflix all day. Right. You're just, you're, you're staying in a good routine. You're still working out. You're still taking care of yourself because you still matter, right. This is something that, that I really need you guys to hear. And, and especially, this might be specifically for you, if you're listening to this and you're in, you're in a, in transitions between, um, jobs, you still matter, regardless of if you have a job, you are still important, you are still just as valuable, either way. Your value does not come from what you do for a living, right? Like that your value is, is innate. It's already there. Okay. And, and not, and so is your identity. And if you're over identifying and overvaluing yourself with a job, then that's what often causes people to really go off the rails if they, um, if they lose it.

(10:15):

And then finally, the last thing I would say is to trust that doors are going to open. I cannot tell you. I know, and I know people say this, I know it's cliche, but I can not tell you, like, some of the best things have happened to me, from what I perceive to be some of the worst events in my life. You know, I remember like one of the first times I had just proposed to my wife or my now wife. She was my fiance at the time. And it was like the week we booked our wedding, my boss had come in and said, Hey, we lost funding. We're going to have to get rid of your position. And like, I like froze. I didn't, I didn't even know what to do. Right. And it was amazing because yes, that position ended. But then this radical opportunity that I never even would've have considered opened up.

(11:05):

Right. And then it was like, then that was the next step. And then that was the next step. Um, and it just kind of built from there. And, you know, it's, it's so funny, but like sometimes doors have to close for opportunities to open, you know, sometimes your plate needs to be emptied. So the, the right things can be put on it. And yes, it's a scary time when that happens. But I mean, so many people I know have, have, have shared this kind of experiences that I have where it's like, they think this horrible thing happens. And then they look back on it in three or six months. And they're like, Oh my gosh. I was like the best thing that ever happened to me. And many times, a lot of times when we, when we lose a position, most people, when I talked to them, they're like, I didn't even really like the job that much, but they're just mad that they lost it on and it wasn't on their terms.

(11:50):

Right. And, um, and you know, trust that there's a positive trajectory that you can go from here. You know, like if you are in this situation, like there is a positive outcome out there and it's your job to find it and navigate it and then, you know, go for it. And, and so really that's, um, that's what I would want to say. Cause I know that a lot of people out there are experiencing this right now. And, um, and or in the future, you know, it's like this happens, this, this, this is just a natural part of life. Right. You know, companies, change companies, close things happen and, and that's okay. Right. And so just to quickly recap, you know, um, the first thing is that if you are on a, like on an unemployed and you don't have a position remembering that it's not the end of the world, it was just the end of that job.

(12:36):

And there's thousands and thousands, even millions of opportunities out there. And chances are, you have a great opportunity now to find something even better for yourself and really framing it like that second, you know, stay out of your head, right? Don't let emotions overtake you. Don't let your mind just start going to all these catastrophic, horrible, horrible scenarios of, you know, Oh God, I'm going to be homeless. staarve to death in all the places the mind goes, stay out of your mind. It's not even, it's not it's business right now. And really let those emotions kind of ride out. And then when you are not in a highly emotional state, that's when you can start, you know, really problem solving. Um, third is to learn from what happened and if you missed it and you made a mistake, that's okay. You know, you don't need to beat yourself up for that.

(13:25):

It's learned from it, grow from it and then make any necessary adjustments. Number four is to keep a regular routine. You don't keep yourself going. And then, um, number five is to trust that doors are gonna open and good things are going to come and good things are available, right? Look at this as an opportunity, right. And if you weren't in, and again, if you, if you weren't in your perfect job, you know, then this is an opportunity to go pursue that. And if you think you were, there's actually probably something even better that you couldn't comprehend. And, and you need this space here to be able to do that. Right. And just, and realize that this is an opportunity to help you grow and help you become a better version of yourself and that good things will come if you really do the right stuff.

(14:09):

Okay. And if you choose not to let this derail you and take you out, um, because I know they can be a difficult transition, but that, but it also can be a great thing for you if you let it. All right. So, um, yeah, we'll tie up for this episode, but, um, you know, for those of you that are looking for resources, struggling with stress and anxiety, you know, we have tons of free resources on our website restoredminds.com. We have some links down below in the notes, um, where you, you know, free assessments, free downloads, um, things to help you. And then we also have our, um, you know, trainings and communities, um, that, you know, you definitely should take advantage of because, uh, you know, we do live calls and questions and all that. So, um, if you are in a time right now, be sure to get help and assistance. And so, um, thank you so much for tuning in and I will see you guys next week, take care.