Don’t let the news fool you. You or someone you know has lost their job recently. I’ve known 5 people in my network who lost a job in the past month. It happens way more than anyone imagines. Navigating the journey to find a new job isn’t easy and requires a mindset change to get through it.

Several years ago, my wife and I were blessed to travel abroad to Europe. We describe it as the European Sampler Platter, as we visited Paris, Munich, and Rome. It was an adventure of a lifetime for us. We visited countries we’d never been to before and we didn’t speak the local language. We knew things wouldn’t go perfectly, so we were far more ready to roll with things than normal.

Here are 7 things we used on our European adventure that will help you make your job search and adventure and thrive in the process.

1. Community – Don’t do this alone. Job loss is painful, and we often want to retrench, to pull back from others. Wrong. You need people to support you. You need a community of friends and family who will pick you up when you are down, who will listen to you in frustration, joy, and sadness.
2. Humility – “I didn’t know that”. Each job search is unique, so even if you’ve been unemployed before, you will learn new things on this journey. You don’t know it all. Accept that you don’t and don’t expect to be perfect in this process. Humble yourself, or the process will humble you.
3. Curiosity – Please be curious. This is an opportunity to re-think what’s next for you. Don’t just rush to find a new job, in the same industry with a similarly sized organization. Wrestle with how your gifts might be used in a larger or smaller organization, in a new industry, in a non-profit organization, or possibly in consulting. Be curious to learn and explore.
4. Plans won’t be perfect – Expect and accept the unexpected. I meet with a lot of people who are unemployed, and they all have plans, and they never happen as planned. Expect the unexpected and when it happens don’t fight it, just accept it, and move on. You aren’t perfect (I know you’ve never heard that before), so why do you expect your plans to be perfect?
5. Permission – Give yourself permission to try new things, to take a little risk, to step out in adventure. Some might not all work and if so, you just became smarter about what doesn’t work. Make an adjustment and keep moving forward. Eliminate the word “can’t” from your vocabulary.
6. Control – Your efforts and response. This may come as a surprise to you, but you are not in control. Seriously. You’d love to be, but the employment process isn’t in your hands. You don’t control the creation of jobs, who they choose to interview or hire. What you do control is your efforts and response. You determine your attitude to what happens and the efforts you put into the search. Neither will guarantee the result you see in your head, but giving up control is critical in finding peace.
7. Hope – Faith & Trust, “Not if, but when”. Hope is the confidence that you will get through this. It’s trusting that God will provide. Never forget that it’s not “if” I ever find a job, it’s “when”.

I don’t know how God will choose to bless you in your next opportunity, but I do know He’s with you every step of your adventure. The journey is uniquely yours, try to enjoy it.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3