All this talk of businesses in liquidation, redundancies and the new f word, furlough it can start to feel like there is no hope. But hope is just exactly what there is.
Could it be a time that hope might turn into thoughts, reflections, ideas – and that might turn into solutions and action, and in fact from that moment of despair comes something great.
We know the power of pause, when you stop and just let things be for a while, when you give others space. We know the importance of listening. But when was the last time you stopped and listened to yourself?
A change in your work is an opportunity for a change in your life.
‘But I was all good thanks’ you might say. But were you? Being given the time to think and reflect is a gift. It might not feel like it at first, and you will go through the grief curve at your pace and embrace your loss for a while, but when you are ready you will see opportunity.
You have no option other than to move forward so why not move forward with optimism and an open mind to opportunity.
The moment you know you have options you take back control. And being in control means a more optimistic, intentional view of the future.
In Simon Sinek’s recent film he urges us all not to react to that of the ‘over positivity gang’ but come from a place of optimism. An optimist can see things from a different perspective whilst completely taking in the normality of reality. An optimistic carries a hopeful feeling that helps them navigate through whatever life throughs at them.
If you have just been made redundant or been furloughed here are 5 things you can do to feel hope, generate ideas and be encouraged to take action.
- Swap worry energy for stillness – of course your inner voices will be in panic zone, playing out worst possible scenarios, telling you this is a nightmare, reminding you that it’s not fair. These are your voices. You control them. Imagine if you swapped those voices for more calmness, telling you it’s going to be ok. Telling you to look after yourself, telling you to be kind to others, telling you to smile. How much better would you feel?
- Do the work on knowing facts – what is a fact, and what are you assuming, guessing, surmising, over analysing. Start with knowing your actual numbers, how much money do you need, do you have, when are bills due, what can you stop. Don’t waste energy on things you don’t know for sure. Paul McGee talks of Worth it Worry and Worthless Worry. Worthless worry is based on things that haven’t happened and your inner critic keeping you in a panic state. Worth it worry is more useful, its thoughts that you need to help you move on and keep you in a good place.
- Be ok to wallow a bit – you do not have to push yourself to be positive, or to constantly take action, or constantly be busy. You can just feel a bit low for a while. Do things you love in this time, without guilt, without overthinking. Watch your favourite films, read your favourite books, go for walks – just do stuff you like. Enjoy your wallow time. View it as recharging your battery.
- Get a notebook and scribble stuff down – anything that comes into your head. How you feel, ideas, thoughts, what people have said, what’s annoying you, what made you smile. Write it all down. Journaling has known therapeutic qualities, as well as helping the process of understanding what you actually want, and what is going on for you. Try to end the day by writing down 3 things you are grateful that day. You’ll be surprised on much better you feel after doing this as part of your routine.
- Know your ideal tomorrow – Spend time thinking about what the best case scenario would be if your ideal situation came along tomorrow – what would it be, what’s going on, why is it the ideal scenario, how would you feel, what did you do for it to happen. If you don’t know what you are looking for, you won’t find it. If you put ‘looking for work’ on LinkedIn you’ll get a better response if you put ‘Looking for a senior marketing role, which needs innovative thinking and sustainability experience, for an organisation wanting to make a difference to the World’.
Working through these 5 things will put you in abetter position to find what you want. Don’t be afraid to be specific on your goals, people can help you if they know. You aren’t closing doors, you are opening up opportunities.
You have to work, every day, on your mind chatter. Each day moving yourself into a space of feeling ok, feeling in control and feeling open to opportunity. You have to let go of things that aren’t helping you move on, and allow for room for good stuff to come in.
Losing your job is a shock – but once you’ve embraced the shock, nurtured the shock, you can see it as gifted space to think and breathe. Time to declutter your life mentally, and physically. Make room for the new stuff coming along.
Keep an open mind, remain hopeful, be optimistic. A door maybe closing for you, but if you give yourself space to think, allow ideas to roam, keep open minded, a good thing could come out of this for you.
What is the alternative for you?
Eleanor Tweddell
Founder Another Door