To all my friends who helped me through while I was in career transition -- thank you! To all my friends who are going through it -- I'm here for you. I found this little gem of a book called "When am I Going to be Happy?" by Penelope Russianoff, Ph.D. The subtitle is "How to Break the Emotional Bad Habits That Make You Miserable." Isn't life hard enough without us bringing ourselves down? Here's an excerpt:
"Inertia is the hand that depression uses to hold us in its grip. What usually happens is we become too emotionally exhausted to want to fight back, too listless to overcome our despondence. We don't feel like putting on the "Smile Mask" to get through a party. We begin committing social suicide. Difficult as it is to do, we can reach out to our friends. A real friend -- an honest and compassionate friend -- can have enormous therapeutic value. And a good friend is a lot less expensive than a therapist."
It's really hard, but you just can't let the bad guys win. Every positive thing you do for yourself is a hit at the bad guys. When the bad guys are winning, your loved ones are probably losing too. It's easy to slip into self pity and "learned helplessness," where you don't try, and soon you lose your confidence.
Several things worked for me. 1) Being honest with those who really care about me and accepting their help, 2) Praying -- a lot -- and believing the answer would come, and 3) Faking it! I went to Christmas parties even though I couldn't even eat any of the goodies because my stomach was in knots. I still showed up and put my game face on. Same thing with job interviews. I pretended I was the person my cat thinks I am.
My heart really goes out to everyone who is struggling with this right now. The economy stinks. It WILL change. Hang on. You are not alone.
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