I am an individual contributor in 40's. Have always been a top performer. A few months ago, I sensed that I am being pushed out. But I pretended that, I am unaware of it, since I wanted to focus my career. Now, this has started to impact my performance rating. I was under the impression, I was being targeted. Recently I realised that, its happening with a lot of other senior people too. Looks like they no longer value the senior people. This has really upset me, since I was very loyal to the team. I am not able to focus on anything.I am thinking about the possible options. One option is to continue, (by doing the minimum required) till they lay me off. But I dont know if they can also resort to the informal layoff, by asking me to look for a job. The advantage in this option is that, this gives me the time to explore building something on my own. But it will definitely hurt my self respect. The other option is to start applying outside right away. But I have a lot of concerns. I know the market is hot for 2-10 years profile. Not sure about the senior level jobs. Even if I get selected for interviews, rejection will further demotivate me. I havent given interviews for a long time. I am very good at design, latest technologies etc. But I hate leetcode kind of interviews. The other problem is that, in a new company/job, I wont be able to focus on other things since the expectation will be high. I need to prove again. And eventually one will have the same problem no matter which company. One good thing in this option is that, I can prove a point.Have you been in this situation?. How do we go about handling it?. Till now, I havent discussed it with my manager. Because, I fear, he might openly tell the truth. I would appreciate, if you someone could help me.