Yesterday, I shared my story about going 10 months without a paycheck. It clearly resonated: in just 1 day, the post got hundreds of comments, 5,000+ reactions, and almost half a million views.
But what you don’t see are the dozens of people who messaged me about their own struggles:
- “I’m scared, I’m nervous… I’m trying to keep a courageous front for my family”
- “I am definitely putting on a facade so I don’t come across as desperate”
- “This is the first time I’ve been unemployed in 20 years”
- “It is definitely the hardest time of my life… most people don’t understand what it feels like”
- “I’ve been throwing myself into networking strategies”
- “It’s been YEARS of fruitless interviews”
- “I almost lost custody of my three children”
- “I’ve been off a paycheck for the past 5 months and it’s starting to get scary… your words made a difference”
- “Your post showed the honesty people like me need to see to not feel like the biggest loser ever”
I’m sure this is just a fraction of the people who are sharing similar struggles. Be kind to people. Give them the respect they deserve. Don’t make them think that a bad job market means their work sucks. Let’s do everything we can to help each other, even if the only thing we can do is to be vulnerable.
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.” ― Brené Brown