Navigating Career Transitions Through Storytelling: Lessons Learned After Being Laid Off

Let me set the scene…

It was Cinco de Mayo 2020, and I got an email telling me that I was one of the 25 percent of the company being laid off. I remember sitting against a tree at my local park, just sobbing my eyes out, trying to remember to breathe.

I realized my life, both personally and professionally, was going to change dramatically. It was both scary AF and a little bit exciting.

Have you ever had a moment like that?

I know many of you are probably also facing career transition moments.

Maybe you've been laid off?

Maybe you're trying to find a new job?

Maybe there's a little voice in your head that says, “There's something more.”

So in honor of this four-year anniversary of that catalyst moment in my life, a turn-the-page moment in my life. I wanted to share four lessons of the ways that I have used storytelling to help me grow and evolve out of this experience.

I hope that you can find something useful and relatable in them too, regardless of where you are in your career right now. 

📘 **Lesson One: You Are the Author of Your Story** 📘

Those first few weeks post-layoff were rough. It felt like a full-on identity crisis. 

But then I realized I was in a "turn-the-page" moment. I would look back and tell the story of this moment many times. (Hello! Here we are 4 years later, and I have probably told this story thousands of times…)

Did I want it to be a story about me spending a year on my couch crying, passively waiting for my next opportunity to just magically find me? Or did I want it to be a story about actively deciding what I wanted next and creating aligned opportunities and calling in the right people into my life to make that a reality?

I told myself, “this is a story about the time I lost my job. But it's going to be a story about the time I find myself.”

And that really allowed me to pause just throwing resumes out into the ether and really think about what I actually wanted to do next.

So what do you want your story to really be about right now? What does that allow you to start (or stop) doing to create an empowering path forward?

📝 **Lesson Two: Reflect on Your Past to Shape Your Future** 📝

I’d spent 15 years telling other people's stories as a content creator and creative lead. But I had never paused to explore my own stories.

So I cataloged my career stories, defining different chapters and giving them creative names like “My Year of Hope and Change” or “Post-Airbnb Identity Crisis & Reset.” I reflected on what I liked or didn't like when it came to the work, people, or compensation. 

Almost immediately, patterns emerged: I loved creating spaces for people to find and share their stories to create a deeper impact, but dreaded playing office politics or having roles with squishy boundaries.

I saw a map of my talents – asking questions, creating safe spaces for people to open up, and creating beautiful documents and organization. This exercise amplified the desire to start my own business as a Strategic Storytelling Coach and Consultant.

When you take some intentional time to pause and look back to your past stories, it helps you get much more clear about your present opportunities, so that you can actively choose what you want for your future. So what name would you give the career chapter you are currently in? And what name do you want to give your next chapter?

🤝 **Lesson Three: You Don’t Have to Do This Alone** 🤝

Cool. So now I knew I wanted to start my own Story Coaching & Consulting business, but how the hell do I actually go about doing that? 

I started reaching out to people from old jobs for virtual coffees, joined networking communities, and formed accountability groups with fellow entrepreneurs. (Is it weird that I enjoyed having a Slack account again?)

In each conversation, I shared stories of my past, the realities of my present, and dreams for the future. In turn, they shared theirs too. We connected on a human level, and I learned so much from them about building a business. 

Starting a business can be lonely, but knowing I had a community behind me helped me push through even the hardest times. Plus, many connections introduced me to my first clients and became collaborators themselves.

I also invested in hiring a coach, which was absolutely a game changer for me. (Shout out to Natasha Cecere!) She not only helped me go deeper into the lessons of my stories, but she gave me support, accountability, and encouragement along the way. 
As you think about what you want to create in your next chapter, who is currently in your network that you can swap stories with? Who can you invite into your community to spread your wealth of knowledge? You never know what doors a new connection will open up to you. 

🌱 **Lesson Four: Embrace the Evolution of Your Story and Self** 🌱

Your stories can and will evolve. 

Your life can and will evolve. 

And that's a beautiful thing. 

When I think back to my early years after this layoff, I did a lot of different things – from directing a celebrity online talk show to working at a gaming company as a consultant, I hosted deep conversations over Zoom, and I was a volunteer organizer of a climate convention for the rest of us. 

That variety of experiences helped me hone in on my unique skills and talents. And continue to get clear on what I wanted to do more of and less of. 

 Yes, I hit obstacles along the way or things didn't work out.  And I could have let those be stories of failure or be stories where I was a victim. But instead, I was able to evolve my stories to have them be redemption stories. 

 Through that I was able to grow and become a better person, a better coach, a better friend to all of the people in my life.

Think back to your stories of trials and challenges - what is a deeper lesson you can pull from that experience? How did it help you grow as a person and professional? Where were you four years ago? How far have you come since then? 

Closing Thoughts: The Journey of Growth and Evolution

I can't believe it's been four years since I was laid off. Four years feels significant, for some reason, like this is a graduation from school or something. 

It honestly has gone by really fast. But it’s also been a period of deep growth and evolution for me. I am so grateful to be in this chapter of my career. 

And so if you are in a moment of career transition right now, if you are working through a layoff or are wanting to find a new job, I hope that these four lessons help as you think about what you want to create in your next career chapter. 

As a way to celebrate the four years after my layoff, I'm going to gift four of you a 2-session Story Coaching package where we can dive into the story of where you are right now in your career and really get clear on where you want to go. 

If you’re interested in that, sign up on the form above. And everyone who signs up, will get a free career storytelling worksheet that will help you plot the chapters of your career, too!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. Know that if you are also in this moment,  time will pass, you will grow and evolve, and you get to be the author of your own story. So what kind of story do you want to tell about the career and the life that you're building next?