Emily woke up late on Monday morning. She cursed her alarm but pulled herself together quickly, making it out the door in time to get to work on time. She drove to work, got her coffee and settled in at her desk.

Her computer hummed to life as she got organized for the day. She reviewed her files that she had to work on, and meetings scheduled for the day. It looked like a pretty busy day but she had a plan, and got down to business.

She finished her second file by ten and submitted it for a higher review. She was feeling good about the day, when she got a message from her manager.

He requested a meeting with her for later in the morning. They agreed on a time to meet in his office, and she got back to work on her next file.

Emma felt a bit concerned. Face to face meetings were usually not good news. She had been hearing about recent issues with the company, but it sounded like the company was working on a plan to address concerns.

The time went quickly, as Emma continued to work on projects, finishing another before her meeting with her boss. She set things aside and started to make her way to her bosses office. Her anxiety increased as someone left her bosses office in tears.

She watched as her coworker went on to her desk. She tried to make eye contact, but her coworker never looked up as she walked quickly away.

Emma walked into the office slowly, and sat down. Her boss looked sad as he turned to face her. He started talking and Emma’s stomach turned, and she felt sick.

“Emma, I’m sorry to have to do this, but the company is working on reorganizing, and they have decided to do some layoffs.”

He reported that her final day would be in 4 days, and she would be paid for her leave that she had built up. He told her that her work had been very good and he would be happy to be a reference for her as she looked for another job.

Emma was devastated, as she walked out of the office. Her coworkers were already talking about the layoffs, and they looked sadly at Emma as she made her way back to her desk. She sat down at her desk, not knowing what to do next.

Suddenly, the files that were ready for her review didn’t seem to matter any more. She sat looking at her computer trying not to cry. She had been working for her company for three year, her first job out of college, and until today she had no plans to start job hunting.

As she thought about the future she was overwhelmed. How would she pay her rent? How would she pay her bills? She could lose everything. She didn’t have any savings, her student loans made sure of that.

The rest of the week went quickly. Emma was tasked with turning over her files to the person that would be taking over. Her coworker had been at the company longer, and was supportive and she reviewed information in the files.

Emma packed up her desk on her last day. She said goodbye to the friends she had at the company and left the building. She got into her car to drive away for the last time, but had trouble leaving the parking lot. She was terrified. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she sat in the car for a moment trying to pull herself together.

After some time, she put the car in drive and made the short trip home. She walked in to her apartment, and put her things on the table, and sat down next to the box. She stared at the box for a while trying to decide what to do. No ideas came to mind, which scared her more.

Feeling defeated and depressed, she gave up for the day. She decided to heat up some leftovers for dinner and spent the evening watching mindless TV shows, trying to numb the pain and uncertainty she was feeling. As the night grew darker, Emma found herself tossing and turning in bed, unable to shake off the heaviness in her chest.

What was she going to do? She didn’t know yet, but she was going to have to figure it out soon. She couldn’t lose everything she has worked to get.

Emma is facing a hard event, and is worried about the future. She needs to take time and decide how to proceed. She will benefit from getting organized and making a plan, but sometimes, we all need to take a little time just to be sad.