How I Kept It Together When My Career Fell Apart

About 1,460 hours ago (who's counting, though), I lost what was essentially my dream job in the midst of a massive corporate restructure. I had worked as a copywriter for one of my favorite magazines for a little under two years, when suddenly I was packing up my desk and offering up free cans of seltzer from a case I had recently stashed next to my collection of old Nylons and motorcycle boots.

Cut to a few days later, and I couldn't think of a reason not to wear my ugliest pajamas for most of the day while trying to line up recruiter meetings and freelance gigs. I also Googled variations of “what to do when you feel like garbage and your career is a sham” and noticed there were versions of the same advice everywhere. The cheery bullet points all seemed to have good intentions, but did any of them actually work? I had nothing else to do, so I decided to give them all a shot. Here is my story (cue Law & Order music).