Haha! Not that Amanda Gorman, though I do love and admire her greatly. I also get emails for her on the daily 😅 glad you made it here regardless and thanks for reading and your kind words!!
You do a beautiful job of describing that surreal experience of being let go. Even I in the as a role of a chief medical officer was let go and marched out the door in the middle of the day in front of folks as a power-play. It takes time to process. I strongly encourage people to access coaching. In hindsight, it was the best thing that could’ve happened to me yet at the time it was a gut punch and so grief filled for all the reasons you beautifully articulated.
Thank you so much for reading, Martha! Coaching is an excellent suggestion, I have several dear friends who have acted as a mentor for me during this challenging experience. I’m so grateful for a strong community to lean on.
I too was laid off in March 2025. No cake. No card. Just “get your stuff out of the office.” My job was to figure out what educational policies were effective for which students. My projects were cancelled. Many people were sacked at the same time, so I don’t personalize it. But it hurts. What comes next? I don’t know.
I sit here as some who loves your column and my heart grieves at what you had to go through. You are enough. Period. Your readers support you and you will not fail. We will not let you.
Wow. Thank you for writing and posting this. I definitely needed to hear this today.
I am definitely in "the mess of it".
Reading what happened to you was amazing because it happened to me the very same way and I was feeling all the same things you described. I know we tell ourselves and our kids that "we're not the only ones" going through something hard, but it can feel very isolated and isolating, and like a personal failure.
Getting laid off several months ago was absolutely jarring and unlocked some sort of identity crisis that has really rocked me to the core. It has made it really hard to move on and trust in the next step, especially in a government role.
Thank you for letting me know there is a possibility for a positive outcome for the next thing. I really need to visualize success more and this helped.
I thought you were the other Amanda Gorman, the poet. So I read this and you describe your experience so beautifully. Be well.
Haha! Not that Amanda Gorman, though I do love and admire her greatly. I also get emails for her on the daily 😅 glad you made it here regardless and thanks for reading and your kind words!!
I did as well!
You do a beautiful job of describing that surreal experience of being let go. Even I in the as a role of a chief medical officer was let go and marched out the door in the middle of the day in front of folks as a power-play. It takes time to process. I strongly encourage people to access coaching. In hindsight, it was the best thing that could’ve happened to me yet at the time it was a gut punch and so grief filled for all the reasons you beautifully articulated.
Thank you so much for reading, Martha! Coaching is an excellent suggestion, I have several dear friends who have acted as a mentor for me during this challenging experience. I’m so grateful for a strong community to lean on.
I too was laid off in March 2025. No cake. No card. Just “get your stuff out of the office.” My job was to figure out what educational policies were effective for which students. My projects were cancelled. Many people were sacked at the same time, so I don’t personalize it. But it hurts. What comes next? I don’t know.
I sit here as some who loves your column and my heart grieves at what you had to go through. You are enough. Period. Your readers support you and you will not fail. We will not let you.
Wow. Thank you for writing and posting this. I definitely needed to hear this today.
I am definitely in "the mess of it".
Reading what happened to you was amazing because it happened to me the very same way and I was feeling all the same things you described. I know we tell ourselves and our kids that "we're not the only ones" going through something hard, but it can feel very isolated and isolating, and like a personal failure.
Getting laid off several months ago was absolutely jarring and unlocked some sort of identity crisis that has really rocked me to the core. It has made it really hard to move on and trust in the next step, especially in a government role.
Thank you for letting me know there is a possibility for a positive outcome for the next thing. I really need to visualize success more and this helped.
I too subscribed because l immediately thought of the poet, and l also found your writing meaningful. Thank you for your clarity and dignity.
🪷
I’ve been there. It can be pretty depressing. 💕
To dream and grieve ❤️ thank you !