Surviving the Downsizing

I just read through a whole bunch of stuff on surviving layoffs and one article said to write so write I shall.

I do know that everyone’s situation is different. I was nearer the end of my career than the start. I had been aggressively saving since I started working. My wife is a very successful consultant who has made more money that I did four of the last five years. (I was the winner last year). All of which has made it relatively easy to not fear the future. The only thoughts are around what I’m going to do to pass the time.

So when I read all these articles talking about how traumatic layoffs can be and the social toll it takes on people, I do realize that I’m in a much better situation than most people. It just seems weird to read all the doom and gloom and realize that I’m kind of feeling happy and relaxed right now. Like getting downsized was a good thing.

Oh, there are still some bad feelings towards a few. The HR person who urged me to help game the system to get them to the outcome they wanted. It wasn’t presented like this but I can now see the impact of certain things that were said. Does being sleazy and soulless just come with the territory in certain corporate positions or do you just make so many ethical compromises that it becomes second nature.

Then I found this article on thirteen signs that your job is no longer the right fit for you.

I thought about listing those points but that would be like plagiarizing the article and who wants to do that. Of the 13, there were 10 where I’d clearly answer “yes”. One of the best points was “You’re Surviving, Not Thriving”. That fits so well.

I guess I knew that but the thought of acting on it and finding something else didn’t appeal to me. There were clear advantages. The commute was nothing. The fitness center was great. I had flexibility to essentially set my hours which was nice. At the time, those seemed like acceptable counter arguments to stay in a job that really no longer lit me up inside. Oh, I’d also throw my team in there as a positive. As an introvert, it would be incredible hard to go to a new place and have to find a new circle. At least I knew people and had some good solid connections. So there’s a bunch of rationalizations for you.

Would I make a different choice if I had to do it again? No, I probably wouldn’t. A more exciting job might have relit my inner passion but the call of not working was getting louder and louder. It would have been hard to ignore. I think things worked out just as they were intended to.