I moved to Los Angeles after a layoff. Relocating to a high-cost city was risky, but I'm glad I listened to my gut.

After getting laid off, I knew I needed a fresh start.

Sukhman Rekhi

I was on a business trip in Spain when my entire career flipped upside down.I got a Zoom invite from our company's CEO. In a brief meeting, I learned that our publication had been sold and our whole staff of journalists was laid off, effective immediately.Coming to terms with being newly unemployed took me a while — maybe even a little longer than it should have. Like many others who work in my industry, the lines between my career and my identity were blurred.Losing the security of both my income and the idea of who I thought I was proved to be a disorienting experience. I'm a writer. Who am I if I'm not writing?It didn't take me long to realize that the joy I found in writing didn't vanish with the layoff, but I'd be lying if I said I had a concrete plan about what I was going to do next. After putting my emotions on the back burner and thinking logically about next steps, I knew I needed a fresh start.I picked the high-risk choice over a false sense of safety

Some of my friends warned me that I was making a risky choice.

Sukhman Rekhi