Fear of Displacement from Safety

On Monday, my company announced that layoffs are coming next week. My anxiety levels have been high since the last round, but that email shot them right back up to fight-or-flight level. Over the last couple days, I’ve decided I prefer the surprise “people were laid off today and we already notified who” email over the week of universal dread spread across all of us.

One of the scary parts of personal financial crises for marginalized people is the correlation between high costs of living and safe places to live. Sadly, the category of “marginalized” includes a growing percentage of Americans due to the bold actions of right wing judges and legislators across the country.

Along with the usual fears of losing one’s job, we also have the fear of losing the ability to live somewhere we feel safe. And it’s not like I can — nor want to — roll back coming out now, even if it gets in the way of me being safe or finding a new job.

I talked to my therapist about this fear recently (before the email on Monday) and she suggested I may be catastrophizing, but I’m not convinced. There’s not that many straight lines between “lose income” -> “can’t afford rent/mortgage” -> “have to move someplace cheaper“.

Nevertheless, I’m going to try and have faith in my ability to market myself for a new job in a timely manner should I need to.