Nothing Personal

It’s just business, not personal.

Popularized by fictional Mafia characters in TV and film, that’s become a mantra for those getting laid off.

They tell themselves that, because that’s the message the corporation gave them.

That it wasn’t about them: not their performance, not their behavior, nothing they could have done differently.

It’s a business decision, not a personal one.

Except that it is personal, and deeply so.

No matter how much we want to believe in work/life balance, until we go full Severance, much of who we are is tied to how we earn a living.

And when that ends, we’re hollowed out, left with this empty space we used to call a job.

Or a vocation.

A calling, even.

The reason probably wasn’t personal at all.

The decision wasn’t made based on who you are.

In that moment, on that spreadsheet, you were a number.

And for that purpose, you were.

Had to be, to justify that separation.

Except you’re not just a number.

You’re whoever you were before that job.

And you’ll be whoever you are long after they let you go.

Which is the hard part: figuring out who that is.