Ford Family Crisis – Part 1

7 Keys To Reassemble Life After Crashing News.

When Ford announced it would l halt production on its F-150, for many this has led to more than unemployment, it sometimes results in “identity crisis.”

What happens to individuals facing uninvited change? How can and do layoffs now impacting more than 4500 employees? It is really irrelevant if the lay off is temporary or permanent. Something happens that needs help processing and understanding what can be done to take all the “nuts and bolts” of a “disassemble” life. There is good news, you can create from the rubble a functional vehicle the will navigate a family to a bright horizon.

You are not alone if you have ever questioned personal identity after the loss of a job or uninvited change to which you may have conceded an entry and extended or work “family.” It is has similarities to what some encounter during a marital divorce. There are question like “who” am I?” “What does this mean for me now?” Then there are thoughts, “This is all I’ve know/done for the last twenty years.” What now?” “Who is going to want to hire…?” In short an identity crisis is not uncommon under the circumstances.

Sometimes people many unknowingly meld their mind to a codependent state of identity of who we are as it relates to what we do. This is not unusual especially if a “job” turned into a long term and naturally progressed into a “career.” An employee may have stayed on the “assembly line” because it provided for the family and before they knew it twenty or thirty years passed. Now, however, he stands with that pink slip giving him no reason to believe what provided security and stability is a dependable job or source of income. This presents a crisis. No doubt the mind reels with all kinds of questions — among are those that question identity, challenge self-esteem, and assault a sense of security. The trending phrase is to consider “re-inventing” yourself.

Here are some tips to slow the production line of random thoughts and take the nuts and bolts of the situation and come up with a plan that will be productive and is more prone to expedite favorable results.

1. Assess skill set and create a list of what you do well beyond work.
2. Identify your dreams and desires. These may have been put aside when a stable job went into “over drive” at the job just lost.
3. Write down what is most important for you to accomplish in life.
4. Set goals for what you really desire to do to impact lives. Start your own family.
5. Set you attitude to determination. Your job does not nor has ever been your identity. You may have done it better than anyone else and loved the work you did, but there is more to do once that passion “jump starts” you engine and “revs” up your passion not navigate the highway ahead.
6. Invest in a coach familiar with transition. A good coach is recommended and demonstrates value, rather than focuses on the sale of services and his own credibility.
7. Accept that it is normal, under the circumstances, to feel like you are in a mode of “survival.” You are, but it does not have to last any longer than you taking action to regain control of what you can.
8. Take control of what you can do.

Under the circumstances of unemployment, following a crisis, or traumatic event “survival” is a natural reaction. You are not going “crazy.” You have emotions highly reactive to the loss of what was normal before change crashed your life and shattered expectations. (Continued)