Remember your parents saying, “If you work hard enough, you can have anything in this life.” As you were graduated from high school, then college, and pursued that six-figure job, “work hard, play hard” became your mantra.

Nothing ever got in your way as you climbed the corporate ladder and pursued the American Dream.

Until now.

That pink slip in your paycheck was like an electric shock to your heart. Sure, you knew the economy was lousy. You knew thousands of other people were losing their jobs.

But it wasn’t supposed to happen to you.

Your life was all planned out! Get an education, get a great job, marry a wonderful woman, and raise a terrific family. Take memorable vacations to exotic locations. Send your kids to top colleges, and enjoy all the sentimental, inspiring moments of your childrens’ budding lives while simultaneously saving for your retirement, where you and your wife would waltz off into the sunset of old age, reflecting on the deep meaning of your lives together.

BZZZZZZZ! Dream over! What went wrong?

After making lots of money for your company and repeated assurances from your bosses that your job was solid, they thanked you for all your hard work by firing you!

And they had the nerve to say it was nothing personal, “just business.”

But it is personal.

What should you tell your wife and family? What about your mortgage, your health insurance, your retirement fund? How can an entire lifetime of blood, sweat, and tears be destroyed in minutes?

On February 6, 2009, CNN.com reported, “Employers slashed another 598,000 jobs off of U.S. payrolls in January, taking the unemployment rate up to 7.6%... The latest job loss is the worst since December 1974, and brings job losses to 1.8 million in just the last three months... the biggest 3-month drop since immediately after the end of World War II. The unemployment rate is now at its highest level since September, 1992.”

Where did the dream go? Worse yet, how can you recover in this difficult economy?

CNN goes on to say, “Friday's report also showed that 2.6 million people have now been out of work for more than six months, the most long-term unemployed since 1983.”

And that number only counts those unemployed who are still looking for work!

Like so many other successful, capable, hardworking men thrown callously onto the heaping human landfill of unemployed Americans, nothing could be more frightening.

You have no answer for your wife when she looks at you with fear and panic in her eyes.

The thought of starting over with another employer, if you can even find a decent job, almost makes you sick to your stomach.

What can you do to pick up the pieces? Experts suggest those who have the innate ability to recalibrate their goals and dreams have a better chance for survival. Think about it. You have incredible skills and a lifetime of achievements! Maybe you simply need to rethink how to use your talents.

Working from home is the right answer for millions. According to the New York Times, “Democratic pollster Mark Penn’s new book, Microtrends, notes that 4.2 million Americans now work exclusively from home (a nearly 100 percent increase from 1990).”

But as we know from the rapid evaporation of the American Dream, you need a realistic plan. A way to work with others while still maintaining your freedom from the corporate world.

If you’re ready to think about a new journey toward personal and financial freedom, look here: http://WhereDidTheDreamGo.com. Maybe they can help you too.