I remember my first layoff in 1996.
It was weird and traumatic. I'd been let go before, I'd had temp assignments run out, but this was a case of everything just ended. The company I worked for was gone, my co-workers scattered to the four winds, and I was out of a job.
I'd like to say that immunized me against future layoffs. It didn't. There's really something about your job just ending, and not because of anything you did – but because a company collapses, or runs out of money, or just decides to cut staff. Your job is just gone.
In some cases, it feels like you're gone too. You're not making money, not doing anything, and you don't feel like anyone. Like it or not, we define a lot of ourselves by our jobs.