I got fired. It came out of nowhere, like a ton of bricks on my head. I was called in for a meeting with my supervisor and the head of the company on a Thursday morning, and everyone (myself included) actually thought I was getting promoted! I had been doing so well, and my supervisor had just told me the day before how well I was handling the work.

And then? Bam. Fired. Jobless. Let go only 2 months into my very first full-time salary-and-benefits job out of college.

What I didn’t realize about being fired is that it feels exactly like a breakup.

I went home and curled up under my duvet in the middle of the afternoon, and all I could do is replay the breakup in my head. Instead of “I think we should see other people” it was “We are going to have to terminate you, effective immediately”. I could picture my boss’s face in my head, and it brought me to tears each time. Just like a breakup, I couldn’t eat or sleep or think about anything else. In vain I tried to distract myself by downloading and watching episodes of Gossip Girl.

A few days later, when I finally dragged myself out of bed, I came to realize that I probably wouldn’t see most of my ex-coworkers again, kind of like how you never get to see your ex-boyfriend’s cool friends after the breakup. Too awkward. But I loved my co-workers! I can’t believe I don’t get to hang out with any more! And of course I wouldn’t be able to hang out in the neighborhood where my old office was, for fear of running into my ex-boss, or just being overwhelmed with negative memories. This thought affected me so much I almost broke down in tears again just thinking about how I wouldn’t be able to go to the local DELI again. The deli! I was clearly losing it.

Of course, the feeling that I’d never find another job again was pervasive, just like I felt during my last breakup–I’ll NEVER find another boyfriend again, NEVER! “Who will ever hire me now?” I thought. “Clearly I am a horrible employee, and I might as well just resign myself to a life of poverty”.

Now, of course, I’m doing better, looking for new jobs and spending some time with my closest ex-coworkers, far far away from the office. But sometimes I look at the coat in my closet–an ex-coworker gave it to me–or someone I haven’t seen in a while asks me how the job is going, and it all comes flooding back again. My old company advertises on the subway too, so just a simple trip by train can send me into a major re-lapse.

The good news? Just like a breakup, you’ll eventually move on. You won’t think about it so much, and when you do, it won’t feel as awful. You WILL find a new job, and soon your new job will fill your life with new memories and friendships and local delis. Don’t be afraid to treat being fired just like you’d treat being dumped. Get your friends to come over with wine and ice cream and movies.

Burn a memento (I burned my old business cards–outside, of course, so as to not set my apartment on fire) as therapy, and if you do have to go back to the old neighborhood or see some ex-coworkers, make sure to look really happy and put-together. Don’t let them know how much of a mess you are! Make a list of all the ways your job kind of sucked–all the stuff you pushed to the side when you were in the honeymoon phase (yeah, the pay was actually really sh*t!).

Eventually you’ll forget all about that job. You were way better than it anyway.