why do i feel guilty for still having my job
If your team got cut and you did not, and the relief lasted about four minutes before the guilt moved in, you are not a bad person. You are having a survivor's response to a thing that happened to other people.
There is a name for it. Psychologists call it survivor's guilt, or workplace survivor syndrome: the guilt, the low dread, the private maths of am i next, all running at once because you were spared and cannot say why. Gratitude and grief showed up at the same address, and neither one will leave.
And in an Indian house, nobody lets you feel it. You bring it up at dinner and someone says at least you still have a job, beta. The family group forwards your survival like a win. So the feeling goes underground, where it does its worst work. At 2am, doing your appraisal sums, listening for the tap on the shoulder.
the bit i would actually try ↓
You do not have to do anything with this tonight. But if the thought running the loop is some version of at least i still have a job, or other people have it worse, that is the one worth turning over before you sleep. We made a small thing on our site that does only that. It takes one heavy thought and turns it over. It asks nothing else of you.
turn the thought overpeople also ask
is it normal to feel guilty after surviving a layoff?
why do i feel anxious even though i kept my job?
how do i stop feeling guilty for still being employed?
if tonight feels bigger than a job you are scared of losing, this page is not the thing you need. talk to a person.
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A journal and a blog are not a replacement for therapy or crisis care.
