The author says getting laid off felt more like a break up than a job loss.
Courtesy of Anna Azarov
Laid off. Let go. Dismissed. Released. Discharged. A casualty of corporate redundancy.I know what it's called. But I didn't know I'd be told, via a mid-morning Zoom, that my publication was folding and I was no longer needed.It took a while to sink in, and at first, I was just numb. I shuffled around my small Brooklyn apartment looking for something to do. There was a lot of cleaning and rearranging. There was also a lot of lying in bed awake. Then the crying started.I blamed myselfOnce I started crying, it was hard to stop. I blamed myself for not seeing the signs and for not being good enough to keep my dream job. I berated myself for believing I even deserved a job. I made it weird. I began looking at my former employer's current job postings and checking out online updates from former co-workers. It didn't feel like a layoff. It felt like I'd been dumped.In 2025, many people are going through what I went through due to mass layoffs. I don't know what it was like for everyone else, but for me, the experience was excruciatingly public. My company posted my farewell letter to readers on the magazine's homepage, and suddenly everyone knew. People I hadn't worked with in years sent me condolences. More than one ex reached out. "This must be what Taylor Swift feels like," I remember thinking, as I announced "a bit of personal news" on LinkedIn.In the days after it happened, everyone was supportive and sympathetic. People told me to take some time for myself. I heard a lot of "it's not you," "they didn't deserve you," and "just get back out there."
