Nyasha: You are now tuned into the Hopeful Workspace podcast. You will hear stories of real people from all over who are dealing with job loss or tough job situations. No companies are named and the people are kept anonymous.

Well, except me, I’m Nyasha. Join me as we listen to the real stories of real people and take what you need from their situations to grow. Remember, what you’re experiencing is just a season and there’ll be many more good ones after this.

Nyasha (Nyasha talks the entire podcast): I worked for years to get into the tech field. I went to college and I graduated with a non-tech degree. I worked, but my life just didn’t feel fulfilling enough because I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do.

So I went back to school and I learned how to code and I became a programmer and software developer. And it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but also it was so rewarding and it was such a good field and it was a breath of fresh air from things I had been doing. I had been working my entire life ever since I could.

I got my first job at McDonald’s running a drive-through and I worked odd jobs throughout college. Anything, name it, I did it. I worked at restaurants.

I worked at grocery stores. I worked odd glass repair business jobs. Anything I could do to put money in my pocket, I did it.

And I’ve never been afraid to work and I’ve always been a good worker. So when I got into tech, it felt really good to be in a field where I felt respected more, you know, people appreciated what I did and I got to talk and learn and create and teach others. A year ago, I was laid off from a tech job that I had for about three years.

It was the first time in my life I was ever laid off or fired and I was devastated. I had put so much into my work. I, in the past, again, I worked so many jobs.

I never let my jobs and my personal life intertwine as I did these last couple of years, but I did it and I felt so comfortable and free and I did it. And when I was laid off, I feel like I lost that link. And there was no desire for me to ever do it again.

After that, I took another job doing web development and tech and I was laid off from that job a few months later. And it, these layoffs have changed so much about me. They’ve changed me physically, mentally, just in so many ways, because I walked away from my last job that I was laid off from thinking that I would never, ever, ever do web development ever again.

I had been doing web development. This is all I’ve been doing the last five years. I am even a teacher of it for LinkedIn.

So that was a pretty bold thing to say, but I just, the treatment, the layoffs, everything, they completely broke me in so many different places. And as a person who’s been through a lot in life and who has never given up, it was really freaking hard not to give up. What I think that contributed to my situation was people, some people are going to be mad at this or have comments about it, but I got way too comfortable.

For the first time in my life, I found a job and a career that treated me like a human being. And I laugh and I know some people are not going to think that’s funny. It’s going to be a sad situation, but I just, it’s the way of life sometimes.

People actually respected me. I got to do work I enjoyed and I got benefits and I was paid well. And that was something I grew up thinking that it may happen or it may not.

As long as I’m living and I’m enjoying life, it’s okay. So it was an added bonus. And in web development specifically, in all areas, in many different careers, you should keep learning.

And I’m a person who does keep learning. I’m learning several different languages right now. I’m learning how to play the bass guitar.

I’m learning, I’m taking specialized cooking classes to enhance my cooking. I learned how to garden. I grow my own food now.

I’m always learning, but I did not continue learning as I should have with my web development. And as a result, when I was laid off from my jobs, it was so hard to hop on the most, what would have been cutting edge at the time or to get into a completely different field. As again, I did not want to work in web development anymore because I just don’t see it as stable unless you work for yourself.

So I should have kept learning in my career field. I shouldn’t have got as comfortable as I was. I should have just kept my options open.

My first tech job was not web development. And had I maintained those skills, I could have possibly pivoted back to that. So I got too comfortable and I stopped learning.

And we live in a world where you cannot stop learning. So taking a little pivot from the original format that I asked my guests, a lot of people wanted to know what I did and what I was doing after these layoffs. And it was very hard to talk about what I was doing because honestly, I felt like I was failing.

Getting laid off for the first time and twice, I felt like a failure. So when people would ask me, what are you doing? I said, I was failing. And I, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I use a lot of dark humor to get by.

And a lot of people don’t like that, understandably. So I said I was failing and I laughed, but that’s how I felt. I was not failing.

I was surviving. I took odd jobs again. It was demoralizing because I had worked so hard.

All I’ve known is work, my short 30 something years on this earth. And that’s what I did. I took odd jobs again, doing surveys online, delivering goods, writing.

I still had LinkedIn, which was wonderful. So I got to work for LinkedIn and go and do another course for them, which was wonderful. I took a full-time job because I needed the money.

And it has, it had the worst schedule I’ve ever had in my entire life. I was working overnight on the weekends. I didn’t get to see my friends.

I didn’t get to see my family. It paid me the least amount of money I’ve made since I was in college. I graduated college 10 years ago this year.

It’s dangerous. I was sexually harassed my first day on the job. I spiraled a lot.

Working to keep myself going. It’s just been very hard to talk about certain things, but as bad as I felt about everything, I know and I knew I had to keep going. I have never let anything kill me.

At least I don’t think so ever in my life. And I’ve never let anything stop me. And these layoffs were the first things I thought that might take me out the game.

I was like, I cannot believe that, you know, the things that had been happening, waking up and the things I’ve done and had to do. I just couldn’t believe it. But I am a freaking survivor and I’m a freaking worker.

And I know my situation, I knew it was not going to last forever. That was key. Sometimes when you’re in these tough or bad situations, you can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.

And that’s because you have to sometimes dig and claw your way to that light. And while I felt declawed for a long time, I remembered that claws grow back. So what has kept me going? My friends have kept me going.

They are such wonderful freaking people. Because of how I’ve been working to try to replace my jobs that I lost, I don’t get to see my friends often, nor do I get to see my family often. I’m mostly alone a lot of the time.

And my friends have not cared about that at all. They have fought to get in contact with me, whether it be via FaceTime, text, phone calls, social media. I got a card in the mail from one of my friends.

I’ve only kept a couple people in the loop about every single thing I’ve been doing, the name of my jobs, the situations, and things like that. And they have checked on me every single day while I’ve been going through these things. And that’s what inspired me to actually create the Hopeful Workspace.

There are so many people that don’t have the support system that I have. They don’t have the friends and the family. And even colleagues, people I used to work with, are checking on me and trying to get me work.

People don’t have that. And I see that, and I hear that, and people have come to me to confess that to me. And if I didn’t have that, I don’t think I could keep going.

So my support system is what has kept me going. And if I can give that to someone else and keep them going, we can all claw our way to that light at the end of that freaking tunnel. The advice I have for others in my situation or a similar situation, firstly, these jobs are not God or whatever supreme deity or the universe or whatever you believe is at the forefront of our lives.

They’re just a job. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s just a job.

Everything happens for a reason. I firmly believe that. Even if the happening is bad and I can’t justify it or understand it, everything happens for a reason.

Most of the time, we just can’t see it at that moment. The fact that you’re no longer there is good. I don’t care what that company is or who let you go.

You’re not there for a reason. It’s time for a new stage in your life and it’s time for you to take it and it’s time for you to grasp it and it’s time for you to not give up. This is the worst time for you to give up.

There’s a lesson in everything. I know that. That’s another thing that’s kept me going.

I learned from everything. There’s a lesson in everything and you need to take that lesson and you need to adapt it and you need to keep going. You’ll find another job.

It may not be the best. It may not be as good as your last job. But you’ll find another job.

You may find another job that’s even better than your last. You may decide, I’m not doing this anymore. You may retire early.

You may hit the lottery. If you do hit the lottery, please remember where you got your advice from and send your local creator a couple dollars. Keep laughing.

There were many days where I didn’t want to laugh. I didn’t want to make jokes. I didn’t want to be comforted.

I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to be awake. That’s not a way to live.

Keep laughing. Keep embracing the fact that you’re alive. Smile and keep going.

What I want this podcast to turn into is a place where people can come. They can take a deep breath and they can say, man, things are tough, but I’m going to keep going. You’re still here for a reason.

And I’m so happy that you are. 

Nyasha G: Thank you for tuning in to the Hopeful Workspace Podcast. If you have any questions or would like to reach out to our creator, me, feel free to reach out at nyashagreen.com forward slash contact.

Until next time, have a good one.