Tips For Surviving As A Corporate Refugee
By Lora J Adrianse, Wed Dec 7th

In her book "Are You A Corporate Refugee", Ruth Luban associates"corporate refugees" with refugees who never intend to leavetheir home country. People who are uprooted from the familiarterrain, customs and native language they've known for a verylong time.

From my own experience as a corporate refugee over the pastyear, I can validate that the sense of loss can be overwhelmingat times. The loss of a secure income is significant in itself,but when it compounds with the loss of identity, structure andcommunity, there are times when it's paralyzing.

Today, almost a year later, I proudly consider myself aCorporate Refugee who has successfully navigated the gruelingjourney and emerged with an amazing new sense of purpose andfreedom! With that in mind, I offer you tips for surviving frommy own experience.

Give Yourself Time To Heal Acknowledge the fact that you havebeen thrown into a life changing experience. Before you can movetoward the future it's important to resolve the past. Just as inthe loss of a loved one, there are stages of grief you will needto deal with. Chances are you will feel denial, anger,bargaining, and depression before you get to acceptance. Expectit, accept it, and try to have the forethought to recognizewhere you are in the process.

Take Advantage Of Your New "Lack Of" Schedule One of thegreatest advantages you have right now is "time". Even thoughmuch of that time will be preoccupied with processing yourthoughts, there are no boundaries around where and when you dothat. Turn off your alarm, forget your bedtime and let your bodyreset it's own clock. On gorgeous days go out and explore duringtimes you would have been working. Whether you're running yourtoes through the grass, sitting on the beach or running errands,you'll discover sights, sounds, and people you haven'texperienced at that time before. Cold, rainy days are great forputting your nose in a good book, clearing out clutter andbrowsing great bookstores. Like it or not, your time is your ownnow,

take advantage of it.

Soul Search And Rediscover Your Passions This is NOT the time tomake major life decisions, but it's a perfect time to reevaluate what is most important to you. When you were 10 yearsold, what was it you wanted to be when you grew up? If you wentin another direction, is it time to explore that option now?What are your values, your needs, your personal boundaries? Whatis it that you love so much you get lost in time? What is itthat makes you laugh until you wet your pants? What have youalways wanted to do, but never had the chance? The time is rightto explore these things about yourself.

Evolve Rather Than Revolve This is a time of evolution for you,not a revolution. Based on what you're doing, or not doing,things will change. You'll think about and do things differentlythan you did before. Things that worked for you before will nolonger work. You'll see things you didn't see before. Take timeto "just notice" without judgment. It doesn't need to be aboutshoulds, coulds, good or bad. It just is, so just notice.

Let Go And Let Be I'm a believer that we have the power toinfluence outcomes, but we can't control them. In other words,what will be will be. I also believe that the universe isconstantly sending us messages. If you don't listen to themessages, you get to learn the lessons. Save yourself thefrustration and struggle of trying to control outcomes.

Maintain Undeniable Faith Even if it's not clear now, never losefaith in yourself or your abilities. Your past successes arevalidations that you have what it takes to navigate and emergefrom this experience with a greater sense of understanding andappreciation.

About the author:Lora J Adrianse is the owner of Essential Connections. She is aCoach, Consultant and Facilitator who specializes in thedevelopment managers, business owners and highly motivatedindividuals. She recently left a long-term corporate career tofocus on her passion for helping others bring out the best inthemselves through the use of Emotional Intelligence. She hascreated some special resources for corporate refugees at herwebsite www.connectionscoach.com