What to do when you lose your job

I recently lost both of my jobs (not counting my online endeavors!) in the course of about ten days.  Neither lose was all that surprising, but I guess I never did expect them to come done so quickly and, for all intents and purposes, at the same time.  The immediate question then becomes:  I lost my job!  Now what do I do?  There are several components involved in being unemployed.

It is only honest to point out that much of the advice I will give is just talk. Now, it is good advice and I am following some of it, but the emotional component of being unemployed is hitting me hard. I will try to follow my own advice, if I can! I am not sure if my emotional feelings these days are related to losing my job or if it is just more of the same crap I have dealt with for much of my life. I am quite certain it is the latter, but either way, many of us have to struggle to get past the purely psychological hurdles associated with job loss.

I wish I could be happy about losing my job! The fact is that I cannot be happy about it. I need to work. I need to make money. I have to pay bills. There are obligations. Do others have it worse? Likely so, but I stil have to find a job in a relatively short period of time. This fact, in and of itself, offers up its own menu of anxiety and even depression. But, beyond the actual need to find a job, is realizing and regretting the fact that better planning in the past might have made my present situation different. If only I had saved more back then, things would be different today! I could enjoy taking a couple months off before jumping back into a work routine.

That said - even if you cannot afford or will feel like a slacker for doing so, I think you have to take at least a little bit of time doing something you enjoy when you become unemployed. I am planning on doing that this week - and honestly, it can occur alongside a job search. There is really no reason why it cannot.

Surely I could point you to the many job sites that are out there. And come up with what are little more than obvious strategies on how to find your next gig. Get a new resume, be persistent, all of that annoyingly obvious stuff. Or I can compile a list of hot jobs in a bad economy or great ways to make extra money!! Many of them found on the front page of Websites like Yahoo! are laughable as they require a brand new two-year or four-year education or more!! How absurd considering the fact that many of us do not have that time or the resources to spare. By all means, if you can go back to school do it (I might go part-time), but that option does not seem like a realistic one for the masses.

I do think, though, that it is realistic to reassess your lot in life after you lose your job. I might have to do it, but a large part of me dreads getting a job where I will work 40 or more hours a week and get limited time off. If there is anything I can do to avoid that fate, I will do it. I do a lot of writing... and I wonder can I expand the writing I do to the point where it will make me the sort of money I need to subsist well from month-to-month while even saving a little in the process. I have yet to answer that question, but I am considering it. I think we can all consider similar questions whether we fancy ourselves as writers or not. If you can slip out of the rat race once and for all why not do it?

Others are doing it.

It is possible!!

In solidarity maybe others in a boat similar to mine can do something similar to what I plan on doing... more than once in the coming weeks...

I have been applying for LOTS of jobs.  I have been on interviews and anticipate a couple more down the pike.  I am putting in the work... and will continue to do so.  I am applying to every thing that looks interesting.  Keeping my options open... AND seeing if there is a way to make writing from my bedroom what I do daily...

But I am also going to hop on my bike tomorrow and stroll leisurely down to the beach.  I am not going to lay there and take a tan; rather I am going to lay there and feel the cool sea breeze and consider my life as it stands today.  Clear my head.  Decompress.  I think I will find some answers... not final ones, but just some answers to guide me.  We don't often take the time to lay down on the beach or on a patch of grass in the park or just sit on a bench in the city... and do our best to drown out what is around... selecting and taking in the good that is around us... the things that can ground us... and help us find our way.

I am unemployed... and I will do that tomorrow.  Take a break from following their job search laws and by-laws and join me... in spirit!