The long weekend after a layoff: take space, give yourself grace, unwind

This is the first in a series of three articles that will be released over Labor Day weekend to offer insights from insurance and career services professionals into processing and moving past a layoff.

A layoff before a long weekend, holiday, or vacation can loom over your plans—or lack of plans—in a way that feels impossible to distract yourself from. Regardless if the reduction in force was expected or a shock, and whether you're a relative newcomer or a company long-timer, it stings, and there are a wide array of very natural emotions for you to experience. While there isn't a linear timeline to follow as you process and heal, it is important to give yourself the space you need. According to Franklin Covey, your brain actually makes better decisions, processes ambiguity, and accesses better clarity with rest. In addition to therapy and other good mental health hygiene, we hope these tips from several experts in insurance and insurtech career coaching may help you as you embark on your own journey in processing tough news over a long weekend.

It's not your fault (say it until you believe it)

You've likely been told over and over again "it's not you," but at the risk of sounding cliche, it's true. Tony Ca?as, founder of the Insurance Nerds community, has tracked disruption across the insurance industry in cycles and notes in his primer "The Morning After – How to Handle Losing Your Long Time Insurance Job" that despite what many of our predecessors experienced when they parked themselves at one carrier or brokerage for decades, "unfortunately, the age of lifetime employment is over. This is the new social contract... Structural changes happen and sometimes it means that your role is eliminated or move to an office you’re not willing to relocate to. It’s okay to be shocked at first, it’s normal. Let yourself feel what you need to feel and work through the process. Yes, it’s painful. Yes it sucks. You bled for the company and thought you’d get to retire there and have every right to be sad and angry, for a while."

Carve time into manageable blocks of rest and recovery

Give yourself the grace to evaluate the weekend ahead in blocks of time that feel manageable. Tony Ca?as writes, "Let yourself cry it out. Call your parents if you’re close to them. Call your friends. Don’t hide it from your spouse and kids. Curl up on the couch with the dog and a cup of coffee and let yourself just relax." After some catharsis, and maybe some "Netflix and Heal" (our recommendations on what to watch in tomorrow's article!), this helpful Labor Day Weekend layoff advice from insurance and insurtech recruiter Jacob Galecki includes the importance of getting up and moving around, and possibly switching your brain over to discovering something new: "Discovery can come in many forms: reading, taking a class, learning a new language, or making a new recipe.?The important thing is for you to experience new, novel things frequently."

It's okay to size up social commitments one at a time—you may gravitate towards more social contact and sharing your news or you may not be quite ready to discuss with friends and extended family and may prefer more downtime.

Speaking of friends... your shifting social circle

You may also be adjusting to the sudden shift of the social support system you had established in the workplace.

"Once there has been a financial shift in focus at a company, you become a victim of elimination of social ties," says Tiffany Sieber, principal technical talent partner and founder of Embedded Recruiting. "That is in essence community exile, and the opportunity is then how to redirect your investment to increase and rebuild. Nobody can do that on an empty tank when they haven't grieved or reflected on the transformation that likely had no warning." She highlights that as a society, there is much room for improvement in letting go of "the shame of saying 'I'm out of work'... we need to look out for each other so we can support the rebuilding of social ties. There is nothing more damaging than having the threat of isolation."

Did we mention rest? Your brain actually needs it

"Analysis paralysis" is the phrase Franklin Covey uses to describe that endless quest for more information you may be seeking as your brain tries to fill in the gaps. Allow your mind some downtime from over-analyzing the conditions of the layoffs and do something enjoyable or relaxing. Tomorrow we will share our recommendations on content you can watch, listen to, read, and play to get some distance from the news. If you're one of the people who surprisingly feels better distracting your mind from spiraling with dystopian television shows, movies, or books (think "Walking Dead," "The Last of Us," or "The Boys"), Psychology Today reports this may actually be soothing for anxiety. More on that in our next article.