Navigating Redundancy: A Gentle Guide to Emotional Agility
- La Verte Foret
- Dec 17, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Redundancy can arrive quietly or all at once. An email. A meeting. A sentence you never expected to hear. Suddenly, the structure you relied on—routine, identity, belonging—feels uncertain. While redundancy is a professional event, its impact is deeply personal. If you are going through redundancy right now, this space is for you. Not to rush you into “what’s next,” but to help you steady yourself where you are.
Understanding Redundancy: What It Is and What It Isn’t
Redundancy is not a personal failure. It is not a verdict on your worth, intelligence, or contribution. It is a business decision—often driven by restructures, budgets, or strategic shifts far beyond individual control. Yet emotionally, it can feel like:
Rejection
Loss of direction
Fear about the future
A deep dent to confidence
All of these responses are human. Nothing is wrong with you for feeling them.
The Hidden Weight of Losing a Long-Held Role
Work gives us more than income. It often provides:
Structure to our days
A sense of contribution
Social connection
Identity and belonging
When work ends—especially after many years—it can feel as though part of you has been taken away. This is particularly true for people who have spent 20 years or more in the same organisation, where work becomes entwined with identity, loyalty, and life rhythm. Your nervous system doesn’t experience redundancy as a “career event.” It experiences it as loss.
Emotional Agility: Making Space for What’s Real
Emotional agility—a concept explored by psychologist Susan David—is the ability to face difficult emotions with openness and compassion, without letting them define or derail you. Instead of asking, “How do I get rid of this feeling?” emotional agility invites gentler questions:
“What am I actually feeling right now?”
“What does this emotion need from me?”
“What is one kind step I can take today?”
You do not need clarity about the future to take care of yourself in the present.
The Power of Writing After Redundancy
One of the most striking examples comes from the work of psychologist James W. Pennebaker at the University of Texas. Pennebaker’s interest in writing began personally. During a difficult period in his own life, he noticed that writing privately helped him organise his thoughts and reduce emotional overload. This experience later became the foundation for rigorous scientific research.
Among his studies was research involving professional men who had been unexpectedly laid off after more than 20 years in the same jobs, many of them in technical and IT roles. Participants were asked to write for short periods over several days:
One group wrote honestly about their thoughts and feelings related to losing their job.
A control group wrote about neutral, everyday topics.
The results were quietly powerful. Those who wrote about their emotional experience:
Found new employment more quickly
Performed better in job interviews
Showed improved psychological adjustment
Were better able to make sense of what had happened
Not because they forced positivity—but because they processed reality as it was.
Why Writing Helps When Identity Is Shaken
After redundancy, especially long-term redundancy, the mind often loops:
Replaying conversations
Questioning self-worth
Imagining worst-case futures
Expressive writing helps because it:
Moves emotions out of the mind and onto the page
Creates distance between you and your thoughts
Allows meaning to form where chaos once lived
You are no longer inside the storm. You are observing it. Susan David summarises this beautifully:
Emotions are data, not directives.
Writing helps you gather that data—without being overwhelmed by it.
Grow What Is Strong, Not What Is Wrong
Positive psychology reminds us that growth does not come from endlessly fixing what feels broken. It comes from recognising and strengthening what is already there. Even now, your strengths remain:
Endurance built over years
Skills earned through experience
Values shaped by commitment
Quiet resilience you may be underestimating
Redundancy does not erase these. It simply asks you to reconnect with them differently.
A Gentle Way to Begin (Inspired by the Research)
You don’t need to write beautifully. You don’t need answers. Try this:
Set a timer for 15 minutes
Write freely about what you lost, what you fear, and what feels uncertain
Don’t edit. Don’t analyse. Don’t fix.
When the time ends, close the notebook. This is not about solutions. It is about giving your emotions somewhere safe to land.
A Closing Reminder
Redundancy may have ended a role—but it did not end you.
Grow what is strong, not what is wrong. Your strengths are within you—and they will guide your next steps.
If you would like gentle, grounded support during this transition, you are welcome to explore working with me through La Verte Forêt. You don’t have to rush. You don’t have to be ready. You only need to take the next kind step.
Currently Experiencing Redundancy?
I offer 50% off 1:1 coaching sessions to support you through this transition—emotionally, gently, and without pressure.
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