Start the commotion

I see the panic in people's eyes about the scary job situation, and all I can think is how I went through that last year. I got laid off before it was the "cool" thing to do. I must have started a trend or something!

All joking aside, I really did learn about the nightmare of losing your job long before it was a regular feature on the nightly news. Here's a recap: It's bad, it's scary, it's embarrassing. I'm sure people can imagine the first two emotions, but the humiliation is something I never really considered until it slapped me full in the face. If you think about it, you lost your job. Nobody likes to lose.

The question now is how I made it through such a difficult time. The answer? I don't completely know. I'm still incredibly sensitive about being laid off -- and the journalism situation in general -- so who knows if I will ever truly get over it. After looking back though, I am able to offer advice for folks finding themselves in a similar predicament. This includes:

1. Don't get down on yourself. It's easy to do (trust me, I did it a lot) but it doesn't do much good. Actually, it doesn't any good at all.

2. Let your friends and family be there for you. They'll be your biggest source of comfort.

3. It's okay to have fun sometimes. For a long time I felt like I didn't deserve to enjoy myself -- I lost my job, so I'm a loser who is supposed to be miserable, right? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I finally decided to stop being a stick in the mud and am slowly regressing back to someone who knows how to have a good time.

4. Take what you can get. Don't be picky about what your next venture is. It might not be a great job, but it's a job. Take it, keep looking for something better, and all the while be thankful you have something.

5. Don't be afraid to talk about it. Sometimes you just need to let it out so you can get over it. I'm still working on this one...