WHEN THE DOORS CLOSE ON YOU
It’s an emotional setback when you are abruptly asked to leave your job. Even in these times when mass sackings don’t sound like news, its’ not easy on the heart. However, though getting sacked may not be in your control, you can do lots to make for a wonderful afterlife or interim life.
The best thing to do is to consider the period after termination of your job as sabbatical. Just relax! Find out ways of keeping yourself busy. But most importantly, while you are working keep saving regularly so that you can happily bury the sack if it hits you.
When Simran Lal was sacked, seven months back her colleagues were sorry for her. But recently when they met her at the mall, they had some reason to raise a toast to her. She was glowing and was in great shape to begin with. Nothing like the plump, tubby little thing that they had known at work. They asked if she had grabbed a jackpot of a job to do the miracle. But it was actually the religious exercise hour every morning that had done the magic.
She was still not working anywhere! Since it was a Sunday and they were all catching up after a long time, Simran invited them over to her place which was within 50 meters from where they stood talking.
As the day unfolded, her colleagues realised she was now talented many times over. They were in awe as her fingers danced across the piano keys and gave them Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem! As she played the last note, they all gathered around her and gave her a big applause.
This was not enough. Yet another surprise awaited them a few steps away – at the dining table. There was this scrumptious bibingka vying their attention. She shocked them, “I made it morning today.” She had learnt this and a score of other dishes at the cookery classes she attended during all these months. She didn’t stop surprising them that day. There was some more to come when we went to her room. One corner was occupied by a huge potter’s wheel. She had learnt pottery too!
No one would have imagined such glorification of a sacking. And it delighted her former colleagues. They returned happily surprised and somewhat inspired that evening. A month later she called to tell them she had bagged a coveted job as a creative director in a leading advertising agency.
Well, it’s all what you make of your sacking. Not that through those seven months she didn’t try for a job at all. Only that her applications were rejected anywhere she went. The moral we draw is that professional reverses are a part and parcel of the grind. And the way we handle it, decides how much regard we have for our own lives. We can brood and subject ourselves to misery or come out stronger in the face of the storm.
Contrarily, occupying ourselves in productive activities will leave us refreshed for our new job. If you have kids, there can’t be a better time than this to spend some time with them. If you love books, this is an opportunity to catch up on all the wonderful literature you’ve missed for lack of time while you slogged it out for a better tomorrow.
It’s time you took charge.
Prepare to handle sacking from the day you join work. Consider a possibility of coming to office one day and finding a “You’re Fired” note on table. So, save adequately beginning with the very first salary.
Keep your eyes and ears open for other jobs. Even as you chill after your sacking, keep track of the openings in your area of interest. Some day this chilling will get on you and you would crave to get back to the grind. Also, you need to consider the possibility of running out of money.
But if you choose to tread the way my ex-colleague did, you may end up going in some new field which may be related to the hobbies you pursued. You may even start something of your own. Say if you learn pottery, you may make some stylish pots and sell them. You will definitely be making much more money than from a job.
So if the axe falls on you, dress the wound and take on life with a smile.
