Keeping a Journal During a Lay Off

Scientific research has shown that journaling — writing down your thoughts and feelings — after a difficult situation is a great way to mitigate its trauma and to come to terms with your loss. Various studies have shown that those who journal through their difficulties become better at coping with pain in general. For instance, in one study, half the students were asked to journal about a personal trauma while the other half were asked to journal about trivial matters. The trauma journalers used fewer pain relievers over the next 6 months and visited the hospital less.

More specifically, when you lose a job, you might wear your friends out if you complain too much, or weird them out if you distance yourself, so finding a happy medium would be to keep a journal, so you can vent out the difficulties that just need to be expressed, and focus on the areas where you need some live feedback from friends.

After all, journaling will help you put your situation in perspective, and help you relate your current losses to other losses you’ve had. It can remind you that you’ve had grave difficulties before and made your way through them.

The next step, once you’ve gotten a handle on your situation, is to start writing up some useful goals and a plan for your next career move: what jobs to apply for and how to apply. By writing it out, and letting yourself write free form, whatever comes to mind, you can free those creativity muscles and break through the habits that have kept you at the same job for as long as you’ve been.

To keep up a journal, you should spend 15 minutes to 30 minutes each night before bed writing out your feelings and ideas about the job loss and the struggle it represents. However, in the morning you should write out a plan for the day, perhaps outlining an agenda for a day, or crystallizing a routine that will keep you eagerly seeking your job for however long it takes to get you back on your feet.

Between these two writing projects, the feelings at night, the goals in the morning, you will have a chance to reflect on your progress each night, and perhaps get your feelings out in time to avoid any insomnia. It will also help you look back and see how you’ve progressed. You will get a sense of progress, and realize you aren’t as mired as you may sometimes feel. You are making real progress, even when you don’t seem to.

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