I've avoided this this topic because I've had a hard time recovering from when I was fired.

At first there was the shock, dissapointment and confusion from the act of being fired itself. After thinking that it wouldn't be long that I would be in the unemployment line, I went into a state of denial that "I" was the problem.

Upon further reveiw, I WISH that I had just put my boots on and my nose to the grindstone, and hit the floor running in my pursuit of a new job.

After spending 3 months mildy applying for a new job, I started in earnest. It became obvious that the job market where I live, was for crap. I spend the next months applying for any job I could find, some jobs repeatedly, just hoping for a chance.

The bottom line is that I was out of work for 336 days. I'm still mildly searching for other work, as my current "day job" has no long-term opportunity. My 2nd job is very competitive and there are few openings, so that isn't likely to turn into something that I can do full time, but I am doing my best to be in the right place at the right time.

Between the hard economy and my own having a job history that bounces from industry to industry, in search of a "career", I found losing my job to be a very life altering and completely devistating experience.