How to make layoffs feel less hurtful?

Languishing Philosopher
2 min readMay 15, 2022

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Source: Swartz Swidler

We go to college and spend 4 years getting a degree. At the end of the fourth year we leave the college. We don’t feel sad or depressed, we are thankful that the college provided us with the learning opportunity. We leave the college happy and we start to look for a good job.

When we join a job we are still learning every day. The company is providing us with a learning opportunity, an opportunity to contribute, and in return they reward us with a salary that is equivalent to the perceived value of the contribution we make to the company.

At some point in time the company is going to think that we are no longer needed. It doesn’t matter what the reason is. Until that point, it gave us an opportunity to learn. Now we are much more smarter than what we were when we joined the company.

We should just think that this company is another University where we were provided an opportunity to learn something. We should view this lay off as leaving this university (company) and to start looking for another place to learn (another job opportunity).

I think this perspective makes us feel less bitter and feel more positive.

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