Like many lately, I was laid off from a job I worked for 7 years due to budgetary cutbacks. I have held many of the beliefs this sub holds and felt like I was doing a good at not linking my job to who I am and my worth, but as it turns out, I feel completely lost now.
For the first time in 18 years, I do not have employment. I do have savings, have adjusted to a more frugal everyday life, and am good for at least 3 months before I need to start to make more major cutbacks in my lifestyle. I'm extremely lucky in this regard. However, I have lived every day since my termination 2.5 weeks ago in extreme anxiety and depression.
I, of course, need to find employment in order to continue to support my family and I'm doing all the things I should be doing to find it, but I also want to appreciate this moment in my life where I'm not tied to any obligations outside of my home. I should be playing with my kid more, making home cooked meals, reading a good book, completing that house project, etc. but all I can seem to do is doomscroll job boards and frantically apply to anything remotely matching my skill set. I feel each second of those 3 months of buffer slipping away more quickly than I could have imagined.
I don't know why I'm posting. Maybe to just get it off my chest, but if any of you have some helpful words of wisdom, I hope you'll share them with me.