I've been working since I was 14 (about 20 years now), and held down jobs through college, summers in high school, and as an adult. Yesterday I was fired for the first time ever.
I'd made a mistake and said something that would have been a microtransgression (slightly inappropriate story about growing up Jewish) at work to a coworker and immediately knew it wasn't work appropriate. I apologized then, and then I apologized later. This was at an after hours getting drinks after a conference. I slipped into being a little too casual once, and learned from the mistake (I've also reduced how much I drink at work events as well and made a positive change in my life.)
I technically violated the code of conduct, but it also mentioned unless this was a major transgression that I would be given a warning or some training. This was not the case and I was fired without any warning yesterday after only finding out I was under investigation 2 days ago. Did I mention this event happened FOUR MONTHS AGO. Another coworker got fired as well for a minor transgression. It felt like a very extreme reaction to me making an honest mistake a long time ago.
Was given 1 month severance, trying to apply for unemployment, and uncertain how to recover honestly. It's grief plain and simple, but don't even want to go back into the high stress tech shit anymore. It just feels like someone was gunning for me despite being there a year and a half and doing good work and getting kudos. The last thing I did before I was fired was prep for a 1:1 to talk about how to get to a senior role….
Any advice on how to survive this a little more gracefully would be appreciated. I'm currently just trying not to drink more than usual, feeling everything as it comes up and going into it (Buddhist meditation more or less), going outside and biking a ton, and spending time with my wife before her new job starts.
I'm having a hard time figuring out how to move forward now that I've done all the minor adulting tasks of applying for unemployment, cancelling auto drafts for retirement, subscriptions, etc. I could barely even play piano today because I just kept ruminating on the situation.
Is it ok to just take some time to just exist? We've got some savings as well and maybe can survive a year without me bringing much in other than doing some teaching. I've been thinking a lot about the next steps in my life anyhow since being in tech isn't fulfilling at all, and I'm tired of these very very stupid politics. I don't know how to frame and figure this out honestly though. It's very daunting, and honestly I just want to fish, bike, take photos, and play music and spend time with my friends who I've neglected.