Being Erased

It's so weird being laid-off. If any of you have ever experienced it, you know that it's a jarring experience.
One moment you're a paid employee diligently doing you job, the next moment, if allowed, you're literally packing your office. That's it. You go from having an email, a blackberry, a client, a phone number, a security card to nothing. In some offices, emails are immediately shut down, computers disappear, your voice mail is erased, your security card no longer works and to top it off, you are escorted out and all you can take is your personal belongings like your handbag (they'll pack up the rest and send it to you).
Your clients are unaware, and so are your team members, sometimes even your boss or the person you report to had no idea. All they know is that you're not responding to their calls or emails. And there you are with maybe a box of personal belongings standing on the street corner saying to yourself, "This is it? Did that just really happen?" It's a surreal experience met by a harsh reality.
Meanwhile your box feels heavier and heavier by the moment as the weight of what just happened deepens in your vein, and yet you feel guilty about taking a taxi because of the cost. The next day you wake up and it definitely does not feel like you've entered the movie Ground-hog day. Instead you've enter the TV show, Lost. You keep thinking you hear your crackberry go off and run to your handbag to check it, but it's not there.You go on-line to check your email but then you remember you no longer have one. And if you do have a personal one, your ex-co-workers most likely don't have it nor do they have your personal numbers. If they do, some may feel uncomfortable to call, so you may never hear from them. And then, poof - it's like you no longer exist in that corner of the world that only consumed 85% of your life if not more. It's done, it's over, move on - the tie is severed, and name is no longer in the directory.
Now go out and make a new name for yourself - put yourself back into existence.