This week marks the one-year anniversary of my being laid off from USA Today. I was planning to write about it at length but decided against it. I think I have said enough on this blog about my own situation and the predicament of other unemployed folks (see the archive). In doing so, it appears I have also lost many of my readers, which in a way was predictable based on what I have experienced in my personal relationships with folks during the last 12 months.
But a declining audience isn't the main reason for my not wanting to mark this week with an extended anniversary post.
While my layoff is in many ways similar to the millions of others, particularly in the field of journalism, it is also fairly unique and somewhat personal. The circumstances surrounding my layoff are particularly tough (some might say surreal) and almost impossible to explain to people in a way that they can fully grasp. It's been a rather lonely experience.
In order to avoid further frustrations and disappointments in not being able to effectively convey my personal feelings of loss, new challenges ahead and significant limitations in a worsening recession, I am going to curtail postings about my situation in particular and the economy in general. This blog will be considerably lighter (in words, not necessarily subject matter) from now on.
I hope I will be employed again one day and find some closure to what happened one year ago when I experienced unemployment for the first time in three decades. I feel I have a lot to offer to a stable company, big or small, and am open to new career possibilities at a mere 52 years old. But I realize I can't influence the future by airing my thoughts about joblessness or the recession here. Many things in life have their own momentum and timetable. The length of my job search is apparently one of them.
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