Job Loss

Losing a job takes more than a paycheck. For a lot of people, it takes their sense of purpose, their identity, their daily structure, and their sense of safety — all at once. Whether it was a layoff, a firing, a business that didn't make it, or walking away from something that was making you sick, job loss tends to shake people more deeply than they expect.

The stories here were written by people who've been through it — the shock of finding out, the weeks of numbness, the way it affected their relationships and their sense of self. People who struggled to admit how much their job had been holding them together. People who took longer to recover than they thought they should. These are honest accounts of what it actually feels like.

If losing your job hit you harder than you can fully explain to the people around you, you can write about it here, anonymously. Someone who knows exactly what you mean will find it.