“We’re Letting You Go”

THE management called him Fantastic Fred.a His innovations had saved the company a fortune during the six years he was employed there. So when he was summoned to an executive’s office, Fred expected a raise or a promotion. Instead, the executive abruptly announced, “We’re letting you go.”

Fred could not believe his ears. “I was making good money and enjoying my work, but in one moment everything came tumbling down,” he says. Later, when Fred told his wife, Adele, about what had happened, she was equally stunned. “I felt as if my blood were draining out of me,” she recalls. “I thought, ‘What are we going to do now?’”

What happened to Fred has happened to millions of others, as is shown in the accompanying graph. Yet, numbers alone do not reveal the crushing emotional impact of unemployment. Consider Raúl, an immigrant from Peru who was laid off after 18 years of employment at a large hotel in New York City. Raúl searched for work, but in vain. “For nearly 30 years, I had provided for my family,” he says. “Now I felt like a failure as a man.”

Raúl’s experience illustrates a fact that is well-known among the unemployed​—that the loss of a job creates more than financial strain. Often, it cuts to the very core of your being. “I began to feel worthless,” says Renée, whose husband, Matthew, was out of work for more than three years. “If you have nothing, people treat you as nothing, and before long you begin to view yourself the way they view you.”

As if the emotional toll were not enough, each person who joins the ranks of the unemployed faces the additional challenge of living on less. “When we had the money, we never thought of cutting back,” Fred says. “But when the same expenses came​—and we still had no work—​we had no choice but to simplify.”

“Do Not Worry About Tomorrow”

Renée was at the breaking point. Her husband, Matthew, had been without steady employment for more than three years. “I was exploding inside,” Renée recalls. “Not knowing what to expect made me so discouraged!” Matthew tried to calm his wife’s anxieties by explaining that their needs had always been cared for. “But you still don’t have a job!” Renée replied. “We need income!”

Rebekah, whose husband lost his job of 12 years, says: “When your emotions are so intense, it’s difficult to think about matters logically. But we had to. So I tried to keep myself under control. When the things I feared most never happened, I realized that it does no good to worry. By focusing on the present and its problems, we removed all kinds of stress.”

Renée was able to cultivate contentment after taking a realistic look at her situation. She says: “We have never been without lights or gas, nor have we been put out on the street. The real problem was that living like this was not what we were used to, and my unrealistic desire to maintain our former way of living intensified my distress.”

Renée soon realized that it was her viewpoint​—not her circumstances—​that made things seem unbearable. “I had to face the reality of our situation and not dwell on the way I wanted it to be,” she says. “Once I developed contentment with what God provided each day, I found that I was a lot happier.”

Thus, when Renée’s husband lost his job, she said to her children: “Many fathers have walked out on their families. But your father is still here for you. You know how much he loves you and has helped you through all your problems. You couldn’t have a better father!”

When Raúl lost his job, his wife, Bertha, changed her method of shopping. “I looked for discount coupons and grocery store specials that offered two items for the price of one,” she says.

“We had to have a budget,” says Fred, “so I kept a record of what we needed to pay out immediately and what we needed to have on hand for the rest of the month.” Adele, his wife, adds: “I knew exactly how much I could spend when I went to the market. At times when I needed to buy something for the kids or the house, I would look at the budget and think, ‘I can’t afford it, so we’ll have to wait until next month.’ Having a written record was the key!”

To cut down on nonessentials, get creative. For example, Adele relates: “We had two cars but quickly got rid of one and carpooled. To save on gas, we planned as many errands as possible with each trip. We trimmed down to the essentials.”