Dealing with a Lay Off: What to Expect When You Are No Longer Expected

This Element is an excerpt from Rebound: A Proven Plan for Starting Over After Job Loss (ISBN: 9780137021147) by Martha Finney. Available in print and digital formats.

Get your head and heart together after you’re laid off: what you’ll feel and how to handle it.

You’ve been barreling at top speed for years. Working long hours, taking your Blackberry on vacations, even sacrificing your health. It’s exhilarating. Then it stops. Done. Finito. Sorry. Sign this. Get out. You’re laid off. But your heart and mind still surge forward at full speed. Not much can prepare you for the sudden, slamming stop.