Embrace the recession

Along with a slumping housing market, soaring energy prices, increasingly pricey foodstuffs and lowered consumer spending, unemployment is expected to top two million by December 2009 – the highest rate since 1999.

While the British Chamber of Commerce highlights that this current economic crisis shouldn’t be considered as bad as the 1990s recession, a lot of us are worried.

But experts claim being made redundant doesn’t have to be a nightmare – as long as we approach it with a mindset open to change.

The first thing to do is take stock of the situation and not get yourself too wound up about it, says Sally Ann Law, a personal and business life coach whose clients include worried bankers (www.sallyannlaw-lifecoach.co.uk).

“If you’ve lost your job because of the current climate and not due to anything you yourself have done, there’s no sense in dwelling on it,” she says.

“It's human nature to think it’s your fault, that if only you were more valuable, more clever, more useful, they wouldn’t have got rid of you.

“But that kind of thinking will lead you into the bleak world of depression – and that’s the last place you want to go.”

Being made redundant is made more difficult because we tend to identify ourselves with our occupations – so when that’s taken away from us, we often feel at a loss as to who “we” are, says Nicola Bunting, a life coach who works in the City (www.la-vita-nuova.com).

“People get their energy, their identity, their sense of self-esteem and self worth from working and being successful at their job,” she explains.

“Losing all that is a real taking stock moment as to what matters, to what you have been doing with your life up til now and what you want to do. And that can create an existential crisis for a lot of people.”

Law says losing your job is similar to a bereavement – you go through anger, then denial, all the way to acceptance and empowerment to do something about it.

“It’ll be a rocky road emotionally for a little while but don’t be frightened by that. While there’s no quick fix, you will get through it.”

If you were the main (or the only) breadwinner in your family, you might worry about what your partner and children think about you losing your job.

“You have to appeal to your family and talk with them openly,” suggests Law.

“Now is not the time to hide in your shell. Tell your partner you can’t fix this right away and be honest.”

But your family might not actually be that worried, says Bunting: “It’s not inevitably disappointing to lose your job – your family might actually be glad to spend more time with you, to give you some space for personal growth, to see you in a job you like better. There can be lots of upsides to something that seems so negative.”

Losing your job suddenly is a big shock to the routine you’ve become used to but Bunting says it’s important to keep some sort of structure to your day.

“Be sure to eat healthily and exercise every day – you must fight the inertia of staying in and try to remain positive,” she says.

“Keep in mind that the Chinese symbol for ‘crisis’ means both ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’,” she adds.

“And there’s a lot of good that can come out of this – you just have to be open to it.”