by Sherrie Bourg Carter

Created on: February 06, 2010

In today’s job market, it often doesn't matter if you're a superstar, work longer, harder, and faster than the next person, or cut your baby teeth with the company. If the company can't afford to keep you, there's little you can do about it. As you're sitting there with the proverbial pink slip in your hand, reeling from a whirlwind of mixed emotions, which probably include a combination of shock, fear, sadness, and anger, it suddenly hits you. Your life has been thrown into a tail spin – and usually through no fault of your own! 

But as upset as you understandably may be, the worst thing you can do is let yourself crash. You have to gain control of the tail spin, right the plane, and set a new course. Will that be difficult? In our current economic recession, probably. But can it be done? Definitely. Here are a few ways to get back on track.

First, if you feel like you need a little time to mourn the loss and regroup, it’s important that you take it. Starting a job search feeling overwhelmed, sad, and bitter is not likely to be productive, which in turn will only make you feel worse. However, it's equally important not to wallow in pity or engage in other self-destructive behaviors, such as drowning yourself in alcohol to ease the pain. Give yourself some time to grieve (depending on the person, this may take an hour, a day, or a week), then pick yourself up, jump back into the pilot's seat, and right the plane. 

In order to do that effectively you first must accept that there are things over which you have no control. For example, you can’t control what happened. “What if's” right now are definitely not your friend, and if your focus remains on the past, how will you be able to focus on what you’re going to accomplish in the future?

You also can’t control the job market or the economy. If governments throwing billions of dollars into world markets cannot stabilize jobs or the economy, rest assured you cannot. It is what it is (at least for now). Your focus needs to be on what you can control. And what is that? Well actually, it's quite a lot.

One of the most important things you can control is your energy level. Turn whatever negative emotions you may be feeling into positive energy. Turn anger into action. Turn fear into motivation. Turn disappointment into excitement over new possibilities.

Another way

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