There is life after a surplus. My husband was surplussed not once but thrice. The first one, we took it the hardest because we didnt know what to do as single income family but little did we realized that it will kickstart our financial portfolio. We had 0 - 20k savings ( from severance pay) we reevaluate our finances and cut down expenses. 3mos after he found a temporary job that pays morw but was shortlived. We just save as much as we can. We were more prepared. Then he found another full time but office had to be closed in our area . He opted for surplus instead of relocation and we got more savings again then agter 4 mos he fohnd another again and stayed for 5 yrs til AT&T surplussed his team. The series of misfortune happens to be our good luck. At 45 we are so confident he xan now take it slow. We saved enough for retirement, college fund and emergency our only debt is our mortgage which is very minimal. We live by the saying that it's not how much your earn but how much you spend. Hope this helps.
Some words of encouragement more people should read, since we need more positivity on this forum. Original post is at @Y1lBn3K-1wru.