Job Loss as Personal Growth

CHICKS ROCK! is happy to have Kristina back as a guest blogger this week:

Kristina Leonardi is the founder of The Women’s Mosaic. She is a career/life path consultant, speaker, seminar leader and expert in the areas of women, diversity and personal growth.

See her speak for free this Saturday at Equinox when she presents: Pink Slips: How Losing Your Job Can Be a Good Thing


If you are one of those people who has lost your job, or feel like a pink slip is on the horizon, I want you to know that I believe this can be one of the best things that will ever happen to you.

Job loss can give you the opportunity to make a career move you've needed all along but were too afraid, lazy or apathetic to do anything about. If you've been stuck in a rut, been unhappy with your career, or needed to re-shift your work/life balance, this is the time you can do it. Losing your job forces you to examine every area of your life and gives you no choice but to take action, make changes and grow. It asks you to re-evaluate your sense of self -– is your identity and self worth solely based on your job, career or salary? Those can be some tough questions, but we should all examine ourselves like that at least once in our lives and are always better off by doing so.

The loss of a job gives you the chance to assess and re-prioritize what in life is meaningful to you, and what you have or have not been doing up until now to achieve those things. One’s career choice is at the top of that list, and it is a serious reality check on all levels. But in reality, this is a good thing, because then you can start making decisions that get you closer to where you really want to be.

Right now, a lot of people are doing some serious soul-searching: they are looking to value things more important than money; they are finding internal strength and personal resources they might not have discovered otherwise. An increase in community, innovation and altruism will occur as a result of all that’s happening, and as difficult as this time is, at the end of this cycle I do think we will end up being more fulfilled and grounded than ever. Although our net worth may be less, our quality of life can improve dramatically and become enriched in other ways.

It certainly is a tough time if you haven’t prepared in any way, but it can also be a good one for those who can accept change with the right attitude and can take those proverbial lemons and make some tasty lemonade!

Have you lost your job recently or in the past? How have you grown as a result? What are some changes that have occurred?