Being made redundant
9 August 2010
Life twists and turns – some changes we can prepare for, some we can’t… One recent life twist for me was redundancy, something many people are experiencing in our credit-crunch times. The charity I worked at for the last eight years has moved out of London, something I didn’t want to do – hence I am now officially the one in the one in ten who are unemployed.
My experience of redundancy was, perhaps, a little different from many, as I ‘took’ redundancy rather than being ‘made’ redundant (ie my job still exists, it’s just not in a place I want to be!) but I was surprised at how stressful it still was, despite it being, kind of, my choice. And I was really surprised by how much it knocked my confidence… and how little others seemed to understand what I was going through.
But, of course, I’m a life coach, so I self-administered a strong dose of life coaching medicine. I worked out some short-term and long-term goals, some behaviours that were good for me and some that weren’t, strategies for dealing with both, and created a ‘to-do’ list… By breaking everything down into manageable, practical steps, life seems a hell of a lot less scary!
I’ve given myself some time to enjoy some of my favourite things that working 9 to 5 can sometimes intrude upon, like festivals and films and friends… I’ve got my ‘finding a new job’ to-do list that I go through every day… And I’m looking at the opportunities my situation creates, rather than focusing on the stressful, terrifying negatives – like time to build up my life coaching practice, taking courses at discounted rates for the unemployed, time to volunteer or do favours for friends, time to think, time to walk slowly… I’m even learning to hula hoop!
Whether I get a new job next week, next month or next year, I’m feeling positive and optimistic and confident – because my life coaching skills have helped me work out what I can do and what I have no control over, and how to keep myself happy and positive during a stressful and challenging time of change.
If you’ve been made redundant and would like a free, no-obligation 15-minute chat to understand how coaching can help you, then email me now at carole@caroleraycoaching.com
