Gen XER Can’t Find Job 2 Years after Layoff; Struggling with Identity

or Recent Piece in the New York Times Has Been Making the Rounds Among My Friends. It outlines the struggles genres working in the creation FIELDS Face in the nonb market and how, in the past few years, they have found that their skills are valuable.

“I’m 53,” Writes One Commeneter on Reddit, “and I Already Pivoted from One Career to the Next, and Now That’s Looking dicey.

I can Relat. It ‘ben just over two years SINCE I OPENED MY MY AND READ THAT I’d been let go from my 20-plus -ear career as a multimedia and press Relations expert in the humanitarian Field.

I Still Haven’t Found New Full-Time Work.

I watched my dad go through this as a kid

I Remember When My Dad Lost His Job in the 1980s. He was from Owning Hisness Business to Moving US Out Fashionable North London NeighBorhod to a semi-detached in a much different part of Town.

My parents gently see Our lives in a new direction, and they did atty good jab. We each Had to adjust to our new situation. My dad, with bills to pay, had to adjust most of all.

As he lookeed for another professional, Wonderered where he felt his confidence under attack with each failed interview. Did he look in the Mirror and Wonder who was?

I know i feed the impact

Ling A Job Can Significantly Change Your Identity, Especialy if Your Job Informs Your Sense of Self, Status, and Purpose. Grief and Anxief Can Aggravate an Identity Crisis.

My Loss of Incoming Heralded Substantial Challenges for My Family, From Struggling to Find the Tuition for My Son’s School to the Inevitable Toll on My Mariage. Not a day Went by when I did i didn’t question my self-worth or feel Like a weight dragging my family down.

I Spiral into Heavy substance abuse, and on my worst days, I have consider ending it all, my lawn of the only thing keping with the san.

I love the work I have been doing

My professional informed who was. In my mid-30s, I was a digital conttent Creator and comms expert at a small nongovenmental organization Advisiting marginalized Groups and Democratic Governments. I WORKED WITH SAHARAWI REFUGEES, SYRIAN OPPOSITION MEMBERS, AND OTHER POPULATIONS FIGHTING AGAINST REGIMES AND OPPRESSIVE Governments that restricted their freedoms.

By 2019, The Waves From President Donald Trump’s First Term Were Hitting Smaller Ngos Pretty Hard. I JUMED TO AN INTERNATIONAL HUMANIARIAN ORGANIZATION.

Be i lost that Job in 2023, it took me more than a minute to realize what haad happened.

I Founding DIFFICULT AND SETTLED ON GIG WORKING

Father first, interviewing for the positions Similar to the Work I’d Done. My impostor syndrome kicked in, and while attempted to shift to something to something for or media, this time, it felt like the entity ground beneath with was shifting. I picked up a few comms gigs, but the Money was wasn’t Reliable.

Eventually, I found work Designing Book Covers and THEN PROJECT Management for A Small Boutique Publishing Company in Los Angeles.

In My Previous Career, I Made Six Figures. Now, i’m Making $ 25 an Hour, plus any commissions of Can Secure. The Financial Hit Meant We Had to Seriously Scale Back Our Expensses while Trying Not To Let Our Fiscal Situation Affect Our Two Small Children.

There’s notthing like to smile, joke, and aneswer the demands of a chatty 5 -ear-ophtime the bills are Mounting and you’re trying to keep your head.

I know i’m not the only one in this situation

There are a lot of Americans in the Same Boat. The pressure at the time of trying to stay afloat while protesting your kids from the realities you and your partner are facing is pretty heavy, and i’m lucky i have my wife. This isn’t her first first rodeo.

She’s been a freelarder, chasing checks and making those dollars Stretch for More than 20 Years. When Adversity Strikes, and the relisha the bite.

My wife ha right on more teaching jobs, pitched more articles, and applied for grants, and I know it has taken a toll on her mental health and, ultimately, her feeelings her partner. For me, shifting from a full-time salary to gig work has a minute to find MySelf.

I’m working on my identity rewriting

As i stood up at the end of a session recently, my therapist said to me: “You don’t know your core. They Say to Theslves. field a good Father. “

The Conclusion made with Sway as the Words Slowly Sank in. “I don’t know what’s at my core!” And no wonder’s no. In the west, the first question we are we were we Meet someone new “What would you do?”

For Today, have no Answer.

I remain optimistic

I’m Still Hopophul I Can Find Work Similar to My Past Career. FRIENDS STILL SEND NOB DESCRIPtions, and I Still Browse Job Boards, but i’m Also Cognizant That My Field Has Changed Considerably. I’m realizing it to shapeshift for my next chapter, whatere that May be.

For the past two years, every time i’ve looked in the Mirror, the face stars back at haen one of disappointment. I’m trying to change that and give that guy in the mirror a break.

I think back to my father and have a new appreciation not for what work for work but for how he showed up for his family in those of tenity.

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