I really don’t know what’s going on with me. I was laid off rather suddenly and unexpectedly. I spent the next 5 months looking for a job. I spent the day searching for jobs and networking and applying, then taking weekends off. Additionally, I’m already diagnosed with anxiety and take meds. It’s semi controlled.
I’ve had a job for 3 months now. (So it’s 8 months since I was laid off.) I’m completely drained by the time I get home and NOTHING is fun. I’ve quit all my hobbies. I want tot WANT my hobbies, but I just don’t. I want to just lay down and do nothing. I think I should be back to where I was before the layoff. My previous jobs never drained me this much. This job isn’t that far off from my last job.
Can it take months to get over being laid off or could there be something else going on?
It can take a while to get over a layoff when it’s unexpected, it isn’t so different than a relationship ending. We spend a lot of time at work and often put a lot of ourselves into our jobs.
This could be depression or just delayed grief as needing to find a job on short notice tends to block out a lot of emotion and it can take a bit after getting a job for that block to loosen.
What helps you get out of the funk and what helps someone else get out probably varies. For me a decent walk around the neighborhood/park and decreased phone time are/were very helpful. Even mild alcohol use was a very temporary thing that created a long-term detriment. Society sucks at teaching healthy coping mechanisms.