Losing your job can be a devastating blow. Not only does it mean losing your income, but can mean missing friends and colleagues, a regular activity and structure to your life, prestige, identify, a place in the community and much more.
You may feel anger, bitterness, frustration, disbelief, jealousy, distrust and denial. You may be angry at yourself, your boss, or your former colleagues.
How you respond can affect yourself, your family and your future job prospects.
Beating yourself up will not help.
Accept all the help your employer provides to get a new job, including references, training, leads, outplacement, etc.
Work with your family to deal with the financial implications. Apply for unemployment compensation, create an expenses budget and stick to it. Talk with your creditors if you will have trouble meeting your obligations. They are more likely to work with you if you are honest with them rather than just avoiding making your payments.
If you have children, they will sense that something is wrong, so be up front with them.
Put together a plan for how you are going to get another job, and spend time on it as if it is your full time job.
Remember also to have fun with your family and friends. There are plenty of things you can do together that don’t cost money.