Really great article. I’ve been laid off twice in my 35 years in the workforce. The last time was just devastating bc I thought I’d found my calling, and losing that job was just as painful as going through a divorce.

Like you, it is really important to me to work in a job that enables me to make a difference in this world. I try to live my life according to St Francis’s prayer (let me be an instrument for peace). The job I lost was so perfectly aligned with my values that I grieved and mourned for months. There’s no way I could have interviewed productively in that state. I literally couldn’t think straight.

So I took a job walking dogs just for the summer because I wasn’t capable of doing anything more challenging. I took that job in the hopes that being around dogs would not only bring in some money but also start to heal my broken heart.

Fast forward ten years. I’m a dog trainer now and I’ve never been happier. I have a graduate degree from Johns Hopkins. I would never have considered walking dogs for a living if I hadn’t been so broken.

When I first started walking dogs, it took me about four or five months to get over the embarrassment factor. Running into people who knew me from my previous life, asking me what I was up to, answering: I’m a dog walker, and then an awkward moment when people weren’t sure what to say about that.

But when my ego let that go, I really started to heal, and the joy of spending my days with dogs started to permeate every area of my life.

The only thing I didn’t like about your article was the term funemployment. I get what you mean by it, but it struck me as a bit privileged, trivializing a devastating event for people with no savings. For people already living paycheck to paycheck, there is nothing fun about unemployment. If you’re the primary wage earner in the family, unemployment is terrifying, and homelessness is a real possibility.

But I do understand the value of making the best of an unexpected blow. Your article was both practical and inspiring.

Thank you for sharing your journey.