There is a lot of fear going round at present about possible unemployment and job cutbacks.  It’s alarming because it has brought to the fore an issue that has often been associated with men who lose their jobs late in their careers and realise that they don’t know who they are, apart from their job.  This is a very important fact to keep at the front of your mind - you are not your job, you have a job, or do a job.  But you are not the job. 

 

We all do it all the time though.  We ask “Who is that guy?” and the answer will inevitably be “He’s a plumber/programmer/lawyer/insert-your-job-here”.  But that’s not who he is.  It’s what he does.  Before you had a job - did you exist?  Yes.  Before you had your current job, did you have another job?  Probably.  Do you imagine that when you retire you will cease to exist?  No.  Most likely you are imagining, for your retirement, all the things you’ve wanted to do for years, the places you’ve wanted to go and didn’t have the time off.  And now you do.

 

Think about it.  Before you had a job, were you real?  Did you have love and happiness, hopes and dreams, fears and upsets?  Yes.  Did you have people who loved you and cared about you?  Yes.  Did you have friends who you knew were there for the good times and the bad and that, during the bad times you would need them even more, and they would be there?  Yes.

 

If you are unlucky to have lost your job, or be on reduced hours or income - keep reminding yourself that you are still the same person.  You are a person who is loved and cared about.  You are a person of worth.  You have friends and family that love you, not based on your job, but simply because you are lovable and loved by them.  And at difficult times, they will want you to know that even more.  Because our common humanity is something that is not dependent on what job you hold, or how much you bring home. 

 

We are all in this together (not in the smarmy, hypocritical way the politicians keep telling us) and there will be times when we need help and times when we will want to help others.

 

Talk to each other.  Even more than usual, when times are hard, communication is essential.  Resist the temptation to avoid people because you feel raw and abused by your circumstances.  Trust in the understanding of the people you have gathered round you over the years.  Friends are not just for the good times.  They are for all time.