Why being laid off (twice) was the best thing to happen to me

Me in Dubai, January 2023

Being laid off is a brutal experience. It's a crushing blow to your finances and mental health, and it can leave you feeling depressed and anxious, sometimes for months.

I should know—I’ve been laid off twice in my career. As much of a gut punch as both of those incidents were, they ultimately turned out to be gifts from the universe. They pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to rethink the direction of my life.

The First Layoff: Breaking Free from the Grind

The first layoff happened in the summer of 2016 while I was working as a content marketing manager at a Toronto agency. Although I was anxious and uncertain about the future, I was also low-key happy about being laid off.

To be honest, I had hated the office politics, the daily commute, and the long, cold Toronto winters, which meant leaving my apartment in the dark and returning in the dark. All of that had drained my spirit.

So as unpredictable and scary as being laid off was, it felt like the universe had thrown me a lifeline. I did not want to return to the office and spend the rest of my life stuck at a desk (in an open office, no less!) for over 40 hours a week, with only two weeks of vacation a year.

That’s when I decided, "Fuck it. I’m going to live life on my own terms." That, for me, meant being able to work where I want, when I want.

Laying the Groundwork for a New Life

I took on a part-time job as an online content moderator. The pay was peanuts, but it allowed me to work from home and I was happier than ever.

Gone were the office politics, toxic colleagues, and long, unproductive meetings. Instead, I could work in bed all day, eat ice cream at 10 a.m., or just do simple things like schedule a dentist appointment in the middle of the day without the guilt of having to sneak out of the office during my lunch break.

Back then, in the pre-COVID era, the idea of a location-independent lifestyle wasn’t all the rage yet, but I knew it was the path I wanted to follow.

I also taught myself how to code and started working as a freelance social media manager. I’d always been scared of freelancing and how unpredictable it seemed, but being laid off gave me the kick in the ass I needed.

After having lived a predictable life in my 20s, suddenly the unpredictable seemed less scary. I could either go back to being an office drone, or I could venture into the unknown and unpredictable world of freelancing.

A New Adventure: Becoming a Digital Nomad

So in the spring of 2017, I packed my bags and moved to Montreal for a few months. I had always wanted to live there. It’s bilingual, has a phenomenal culture, and is way more affordable than Toronto. I would have been happy to stay there, but when Montreal experienced one of its coldest winters on record in January 2018, I bolted and got on a one-way ticket to Mexico City.

My Instagram Post from January 2018

What started as three months of sun, fun, and a little bit of work turned into a complete lifestyle change.

For the next two years, I traveled, lived, and worked remotely across 14 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Then COVID hit, and I found myself stuck in Mexico City during the pandemic lockdowns.

I loved Mexico City—it was where my digital nomad adventure had begun, so I decided to stay, despite my family urging me to return to Canada. I continued working remotely as a freelance content writer and also worked on improving my Spanish.

The Second Layoff: Embracing Change and Uncertainty

And as we all know, the world changed dramatically during COVID. Suddenly, companies that had balked at the idea of remote work were forced to adapt.

In October 2021, I decided to quit freelancing and joined Animalz as a full-time writer. I figured that since the job was remote, it wouldn’t really matter that I was working full-time at an agency.

I had the opportunity to work with some of the smartest writers and editors in my career so far, and the experience sharpened my writing skills. But when May 2023 rolled around, I found myself back in a familiar situation… I was laid off again.

I was shell-shocked. I had just moved into a new, unfurnished apartment in Mexico City, so the timing couldn’t have been worse. But I decided to take it in stride, and I jumped back into freelancing. I continued to do some work for Animalz for a while and also took on some clients of my own.

But the job market is brutal right now. Layoffs have been rampant in tech, and competition for jobs is fierce among content writers. Every day on my LinkedIn feed, I either see a new post from someone in my network who’s been laid off or a post like the one below with 200+ comments from freelance content writers all vying for the attention of job posters.

Source: LinkedIn

Seeing posts like this on LinkedIn is unnerving and makes me worry about the future of content marketing.

The second layoff has woken me up to the fact that the job market is shifting faster than ever, thanks largely to AI. And just like the first layoff, it's pushing me to embrace the uncertainty, adapt quickly, and step into a new chapter—one that's still unfolding but promises to be just as transformative as the last.