Thank you to everyone who answered my questions - what worked for you?

I posted here 26 weeks ago when I was panicking about my layoff as a retail manager. It has been weighing on me all week. I am still searching but I have a plan. What would help newcomers most?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 9 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.