I've been laid off 6 times, but being let go at 54 was different. I've been unemployed for a year.

• Angie Longacre became a content writer after she was laid off from her graphic designer job.
• Longacre was laid off four times over the following decade but found it easy to bounce back.
• But she said that she had been struggling to find a job since being laid off a year ago.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Angie Longacre, a freelancer in Pennsylvania, about her experience getting laid off at 54. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I started my career as a graphic designer. I loved to write on the side, for fun. The idea of writing professionally was scary.