“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” — Epictetus

The Call That Changes Everything

Last week, several of my talented friends received the call. Not because they weren’t good enough. Not because they failed. But because the company decided to stop investing in their division. Just like that, their roles were eliminated.

The shock was immediate. The disappointment, profound. The uncertainty, overwhelming.

If you’ve been there, you know the feeling. If you haven’t, in today’s economy, you might be one business decision away from experiencing it yourself.

About Job Security

Two thousand years ago, a philosopher Epictetus taught his students a fundamental truth: some things are within our power, and some things are not.

Your talent? Within your power to develop. Your work ethic? Within your power to control. Your company’s business decisions? Completely outside your power.

A philosopher would look at modern layoffs and see exactly what they always saw: external events beyond individual control, testing our character and revealing what we’re made of.

Marcus Aurelius, who ruled the Roman Empire while practicing Stoic philosophy, wrote in his personal journal: “You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

He wasn’t writing about job security—he was writing about something far more fundamental: where we place our sense of control, identity, and peace of mind.

The Illusion We All Believe

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: we’ve been sold an illusion.

Work hard. Develop your skills. Be talented. Be loyal. And you’ll have job security.

But my friends were talented. They did work hard. They were skilled professionals. And it didn’t matter.

Because job security was never really in their control. It never is.

Companies optimize for shareholders, not employee security. Business strategies shift. Markets change. Entire divisions get eliminated overnight. And individual talent, no matter how exceptional, can’t override a boardroom decision to exit a business line.

The Stoics called things like jobs, wealth, and reputation “preferred indifferents.” They’re naturally desirable—we prefer to have them rather than not. But they’re indifferent to our character, our worth, our ability to live well.

Preferred indifference is a Stoic concept where you acknowledge some things (like health, wealth, good reputation) are naturally better to have than their opposites, but you remain detached because only virtue (wisdom, justice, courage, temperance) is truly good, and virtue is independent of these external “indifferents”.

Your job title doesn’t make you a good person. Losing it doesn’t make you a bad one.

What Actually Happened

Let’s separate facts from interpretation:

Fact: A company made a business decision to stop investing in a particular division.

Fact: Roles in that division were eliminated.

Fact: Talented people lost their jobs.

Not a fact: “I wasn’t good enough.”

Not a fact: “I failed.”

Not a fact: “My career is over.”

Not a fact: “I have no control over what happens next.”

This is what Epictetus meant. It’s not what happened—the layoff—that determines what comes next. It’s how we interpret it and respond to it.

The layoff is an external event. The meaning we assign to it, the actions we take next, the character we demonstrate in response—those are entirely within our control.

Response to Getting Laid Off

So what would you do when facing a layoff?

1. Acknowledge the Emotions, Then Examine Them

Shock, sadness, disappointment, even anger—these are natural human responses. The Stoics weren’t emotionless robots. They felt deeply.

But they also examined their emotions. They asked: “Is this emotion based on reality or on my interpretation? Is it helping me or harming me? What would wisdom suggest I do with this feeling?”

Feel the disappointment. Process the shock. But don’t let these emotions become a permanent story about your worth or your future.

2. Focus Ruthlessly on What You Can Control

You can’t control:

• The company’s decision
• The timing
• The economic conditions
• Other people’s opinions
• How quickly you’ll find a new job

You can control:

• How you interpret what happened
• The quality of your job search
• Your daily actions and habits
• How you treat yourself and others
• What you learn from this experience
• Your attitude and resilience

Where you place your attention determines your experience. Focus on what you can’t control, and you’ll feel helpless. Focus on what you can control, and you’ll find agency.

3. See the Obstacle as the Way

Another Stoic principle: every obstacle contains an opportunity for practicing virtue and growth.

This layoff is forcing questions that might have needed asking:

• Is this really the career path I want?
• What skills should I develop next?
• What kind of company culture do I actually want?
• How can I build more resilience and optionality?

It’s creating space for:

• Learning new skills
• Exploring different industries
• Reconnecting with your network
• Reassessing your priorities
• Building something new

The obstacle isn’t blocking the path. The obstacle is the path.

4. Practice Negative Visualization Going Forward

The Stoics had a practice called premeditatio malorum—the premeditation of evils. They regularly imagined losing the things they valued.

Not to be pessimistic, but to be prepared.

If you regularly imagine losing your job and ask yourself, “How would I respond? What’s my backup plan? What skills should I be developing?"—then when it actually happens, you’re not starting from zero. You’re executing a plan you’ve already mentally rehearsed.

This isn’t paranoia. It’s wisdom.

In today’s economy, everyone should be asking:

• If I lost my job tomorrow, what would I do?
• Do I have 3-6 months of expenses saved?
• Are my skills current and transferable?
• Is my network strong and active?
• Am I building my career on things I can control?

5. Build Your Identity on Character, Not Circumstances

Here’s the deepest Stoic insight: your worth isn’t determined by your employment status.

You’re not your job title. You’re not your salary. You’re not your company’s logo on your LinkedIn profile.

You are your character. Your integrity. Your wisdom. Your courage. Your kindness. Your resilience.

Those things remain, regardless of what any company decides.

The Stoics focused on four virtues:

• Wisdom: Learning from this experience, making sound decisions
• Courage: Taking action despite fear and uncertainty
• Justice: Treating others fairly, helping fellow laid-off colleagues
• Temperance: Managing emotions, avoiding destructive reactions

These are the things that actually define you. And no company can eliminate them.

What This Means for All of Us

Even if you haven’t been laid off, this matters to you.

Because in today’s economy, job security is largely an illusion. AI is disrupting industries. Companies are constantly restructuring. Entire business models are becoming obsolete.

The question isn’t whether you’ll face career uncertainty. The question is when, and how you’ll respond.

The Stoic approach offers a different kind of security—not the false security of a “stable” job, but the real security of:

• Knowing what you can and cannot control
• Building skills that are portable and valuable
• Developing character that remains regardless of circumstances
• Creating financial resilience through saving and planning
• Maintaining relationships and networks
• Finding meaning in virtue, not just employment

This is antifragility: not just surviving disruption, but growing stronger through it.

A Message to My Friends (and Anyone Facing This)

To my friends who were laid off, and to anyone reading this who’s facing similar uncertainty:

You are not your job. You are not this setback. You are not defined by a business decision made in a boardroom you weren’t in.

You are talented. Your skills remain. Your character remains. Your potential remains.

What happened to you was outside your control. What happens next is not.

You get to decide:

• How you interpret this experience
• What actions you take
• What you learn
• Who you become through this challenge
• How you help others facing the same thing

This is your opportunity to demonstrate the very qualities that make you valuable: resilience, adaptability, wisdom, courage.

The Stoics believed that obstacles reveal character. This is your chance to show what you’re made of—not to your former employer, but to yourself.

The Practice

Here’s what I’m encouraging my friends to do, and what I’d encourage anyone facing career uncertainty to practice:

Each morning:

• Acknowledge what you can and cannot control today
• Set one intention for action (update resume, reach out to one contact, learn one new thing)
• Remind yourself: your worth is not determined by employment status

Throughout the day:

• When anxiety about the future arises, return to the present moment
• When self-doubt appears, separate facts from interpretation
• When opportunities for action appear, take them with courage

Each evening:

• Review what you did well today
• Identify what you learned
• Practice gratitude for what remains (skills, relationships, health, opportunities)
• Forgive yourself for not being perfect

This is Stoicism in action. Not abstract philosophy, but practical wisdom for navigating real challenges.

The Deeper Truth

Epictetus was right: it’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

The layoff happened. That’s done. That’s the past. That’s outside your control.

But your response? That’s happening now. That’s the present. That’s entirely within your control.

You can respond with despair, or with determination. You can see yourself as a victim, or as someone facing a challenge. You can focus on what you lost, or on what you’re building next. You can let this define you, or refine you.

The choice, as it always has been, is yours.

And that choice—that power to decide how you respond—is the one thing no company, no economy, no external circumstance can ever take away from you.

That’s not just Stoic philosophy. That’s the truth about being human.

Moving Forward

If you’re facing a layoff, career uncertainty, or any situation where external circumstances have turned against you, remember:

You have more power than you think. Not power over what happened, but power over what happens next.

Not power over external events, but power over your mind, your actions, your character, your response.

And in the end, that’s the only power that really matters.

As Marcus Aurelius wrote nearly 2,000 years ago, facing challenges far greater than any of us will likely face:

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Your layoff isn’t the end of your story. It’s the beginning of the next chapter.

And you’re the one holding the pen.

If you found this helpful, share it with someone who might need to hear it. We’re all navigating uncertainty together. The Stoic wisdom that helped people 2,000 years ago can help us today—if we’re willing to practice it.